\UA\\AVtV:  '• 


LIBRARY 

OK  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


OK 


doss 


THE    FUTUEE: 


/ 

IA. 


f  olitital 


BY 

MONTGOMERY  H.  THKOOP. 


Stay,  my  lord, 

And  let  your  choler  with  your  reason  question, 
What  'tis  you  go  about. 

Be  advised, 

Heat  not  a  furnace  for  your  foe  so  hot, 
That  it  do  singe  yourself. 

K.  HENRY  Till. 


NEW  YORK: 
JAMES    G.    GREGORY. 

1864. 


K.N  TERKD  according  to  Art  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  bf 
JAMES    G.   GREGORY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


W.  II.  TI.NSOM,  Stereotype  C.  A.  ALTORD,  Print.-r. 


TO    THE 
lElsTOS    T. 

WHILOM,  AND  IN  THE  HAPPIER  DAYS   OF  THE  REPUBLIC, 

(Btofarnor  of  tfo  5tat£  of  Nrin  gorfe, 

THIS   VOLUME   IS   DEDICATED  AS  A  HUMBLE   TESTIMONIAL   OF   GRATITUDE,  REVERENCE, 
AND   AFFECTION, 

BY   THE  AUTHOR. 


PEEFATORY   NOTE. 


THROUGHOUT  the  following  pages,  I  have  in  general 
excluded  from  consideration  such  features  of  the  existing 
situation,  either  with  respect  to  our  internal  affairs,  or 
our  relations  to  the  insurgents,  as  will  exercise  but  an 
ephemeral  influence  upon  the  solution  of  the  grand  problem. 
But  I  have  found  it  impossible  always  to  avoid  references 
to  passing  events,  and  conjectures  respecting  their  results, 
the  correctness  or  falsity  of  which  a  few  months,  perhaps 
weeks,  will  render  manifest.  It  will  therefore  be  neces 
sary  for  the  better  understanding  of  some  portions  of  this 
work,  that  the  reader  should  bear  in  mind  that  it  was  pre 
pared  for  publication  during  the  months  of  November, 
December,  and  January  last. 

M.  H.  T 

UTICA,  N.  Y.,  March  1,  1804 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  Object  of  the  Work — The  Propositions  which  it  aims  to  establish 
— The  Spirit  in  which  the  Author  will  endeavor  to  discuss  them — 
The  propriety  and  importance  of  such  a  Discussion  at  the  present 
time — Practical  Questions  alone  to  be  considered,  .  .  9 

CHAPTER  I. 

State  Sovereignty— Mr.  Sumner's  Attack  upon  it  in  "  Our  Domestic 
Relations" — The  Articles  of  Confederation— State  Sovereignty 
under  the  Confederation — Origin  and  Theory  of  the  Constitution — 
The  Powers  which  it  grants  to  Congress  and  denies  to  the  States, 
compared  with  those  granted  and  denied  by  the  Articles  of  Confe 
deration — The  Federalist  on  the  changes  made  by  the  Constitution 
and  on  State  Sovereignty — The  question  of  Supremacy  consid 
ered — Recognition  of  State  Sovereignty  in  the  Constitution — Con 
stitutional  and  Legislative  Provisions  of  New  York  and  Massachu 
setts  on  that  Subject — Its  recognition  in  the  proceedings  of  the  two 
States  and  of  Congress,  relative  to  the  Cession  of  Boston  Corner 
to  New  York — Mr.  Sumner's  Opinion  in  1855,  ...  17 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Constitutional  Power  of  the  General  Government  to  suppress  a 
Rebellion — That  Power  not  affected  by  the  unwarrantable  sanction 
of  a  Rebellion  by  a  State — The  impossibility  of  a  Constitutional 
Collision  between  the  State  and  National  Sovereignties— The  course 
of  the  General  Government  in  the  Nullification  Controversy — A 
similar  course  in  this  Controversy  will  not  expose  us  to  the  charge 
of  coercing  Sovereign  States — Consideration  of  the  Doctrines  of 
Forfeiture  of  State  Rights  by  State  Treason,  of  State  Suicide,  and 
of  the  Abdication  by  a  State  of  its  Place  in  the  Union,  .  4ft 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Answer  to  Senator  Sumner's  Theory  of  a  "  Tabula  rasa"  in  conse 
quence  of  the  vacancy  of  the  State  Offices — The  unconstitution- 
ality  of  the  project  to  disfranchise  Individuals  or  Classes  by  Act 
of  Congress — The  recognition  of  the  Insurgents  as  Belligerents 
will  not  give  us  the  rights  of  Conquerors  over  Territory  wrested 
from  them — State  Rights,  not  being  derived  from  the  Constitu 
tion,  cannot  be  forfeited  to  the  General  Government — That  Gov 
ernment  has  no  power  to  disturb  the  balance  of  our  Political 
System  by  accepting  such  a  Forfeiture,  ....  60 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Theory  upon  which  we  entered  into  the  War — The  Assurances 
respecting  its  Object  and  Termination  which  were  given  to  For 
eign  Nations — The  Adoption  of  the  Crittenden  Resolution — Its 
Obligatory  Character  as  a  National  Pledge,  ...  74 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Emancipation  Proclamation  as  a  War  Measure — Consideration 
of  the  Rights  of  a  Belligerent  over  the  Slaves  of  Citizens  of  an 
Invaded  Nation  regarding  them  as  Property — The  same  Rights 
:-<ling  tin-in  as  occupying  a  Peculiar  Status  under  the  Local 
Law — The  Owner's  Rights  after  the  Restoration  of  Peace — Rea 
sons  why  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  exceeds  the  Rights  of 
a  Belligerent,  and  manifests  a  Revolutionary  Intention  on  the 
part  of  our  Government, 88 

CHAPTER   VI. 

How  the  Southern  People  were  induced  to  Favor  the  Rebellion — 
Relations  of  the  Slaveholders  and  of  the  Institution  of  Slavery  to 
the  M  •''!'•  I'eopl< — Theories  of  the  Constitution  and  of 

Public  Policy  which  \\ere  prevalent  in  the  South — The  Manner 
in  which  the  Southern  Union  Party  was  Extinguished — Action 
Of  the  Border  Slave  Stnte*,  ....  103 


CONTEXTS.  yii 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Effects  of  the  Policy  thus  far  pursued  by  our  Government  towards 
the  People  of  the  South — The  "  Anti-Rosewater  "  Military 
Policy — The  Penal,  Confiscation  and  Exclusion  Statutes — Result 
of  those  Measures  in  arousing  the  Resentment  and  Hatred  of  the 
Southern  People — Falsity  of  the  Theory  that  the  Masses  at  the 
South  will  regard  with  complacency  the  Ruin  and  Outlawry  of 
their  principal  Citizens — Exaggerated  Effects  attributed  at  the 
North  to  Dissensions  between  the  Confederate  Authorities  and 
their  People — Practical  Results  of  the  Policy  of  Severity  in  the 
Districts  which  we  have  already  conquered.  .  .  .124 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

The  impossibility  of  Governing  the  People  of  the  South  by  means 
of  State  Governments,  depending  upon  the  Popular  Vote,  with 
out  allaying  their  Discontent — Results  which  attended  the 
Attempt  in  Utah  to  maintain  the  Federal  Government  over  a 
Dissatisfied  People — Collisions  which  a  similar  Attempt  in  the 
South  would  provoke — The  impracticability  of  introducing  a 
new  Element  of  Political  Power,  by  means  of  the  Blacks,  or  of 
Foreign  Immigrants,  or  of  Immigrants  from  the  North — The 
practical  Result  of  the  Power  of  Government,  popular  in  Form, 
to  coerce  its  Subjects  to  obedience,  compared  with  the  Theory — 
Action  of  President  Jackson  in  the  Nullification  Controversy — 
His  Opinion  respecting  the  possibility  of  maintaining  the  Union 
by  Force  alone — Madison,  Benton,  Everett,  Douglas  and  Web 
ster's  Opinions  upon  the  same  subject lf>7 

CHAPTER   IX. 

Senator  Sumner's  Plan  of  Territorial  Governments  for  the  South — 
The  President's  Plan  of  "  Reconstruction  " — A  detailed  Explana 
tion  of  the  latter — Delusive  character  of  the  apparent  Intention  to 
submit  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  to  the  Supreme  Court — 
The  Plan  contemplates  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  by  a  revolution 
ary  overthrow  of  the  State  Constitutions — Nature  of  the  Popular 
Element  of  the  "  reconstructed  "  State  Governments — Probability 
of  the  acceptance  of  the  Terms  of  Amnesty  by  the  Southern 


vjii  CONTENTS. 

People  now  within  our  Lines — Readiness  of  the  Baser  Element 
of  a  Conquered  People  to  ingratiate  itself  with  the  Conqueror — 
Illustrations  of  this  I'liiK-iple  by  the  Conduct  of  Individuals  in 
New  York.  New  .Jersey,  IViiiisylvuniii  and  South  Carolina  during 
the  Revolutionary  \Var-Kflbrts  of  the  British  Authorities  to 
reestablish  Civil  Rule  in  South  Carolina  in  the  years  1780-1781 — 
Their  apparent  success  in  bringing  the  People  back  to  their 
Allegiance — Their  Severities  towards  those  who  refused  to  ac 
knowledge  themselves  British  Subjects,  ....  180 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Facility  of  putting  the  President's  Plan  into  Execution  in  the 
early  Stages  of  the  Experiment — The  Difficulties  will  thicken  as 
the  Problem  approaches  Solution— Feelings  with  which  the  un- 
corrupted  Part  of  the  Southern  People  will  regard  the  Tender  of 
the  Oath — Nature  of  the  Undertaking  which  it  requires  from  the 
Pardoned  Rebel — Character  of  the  first  Officials  under  the  new 
State  Governments — Feelings  of  Animosity  which  will  exist  be 
tween  them  and  a  large  Portion  of  the  Conquered  People — The 
ssities  of  the  National  Government  will  require  that  such  Men 
shall  be  kept  in  Power — The  Aid  of  the  Military  will  be  invoked 
for  that  Purpose — Impossibility  of  effecting  the  Pacification  of  the 
Country  under  such  Circumstances— Worthlessness  of  Forced  Oaths 
of  Allegiance — The  inevitable  Tendency  of  Military  Rule  over  a 
Conquered  People  is  to  Severity — The  Evil  is  thus  increased  by 
the  Means  employed  to  remove  it— These  Propositions  illustrated 
— Results  of  the  British  Efforts  to  reestablish  the  King's  Authority 
in  South  Carolina  in  I7s(>-1781 — How  Military  Force  agrees  with 
a  Popular  Form  of  Government  in  Maryland  and  Delaware — The 
Military  Establishment  which  the  Policy  of  Subjugation  will  re 
quire  us  to  maintain — Expense  of  such  an  Army — Questions  as  to 
our  Ability  to  defray  the  Expense  or  to  keep  the  Ranks  filled— 
Other  Questions  relating  to  the  Subject,  .  210 

CHAPTER  XL 

Consideration  of  the   Policy  of  Subjugation,  under  Mr.  Sumner's 
Plan  or  the  President's  Plan,  with  reference  to  its  effects  upon 


CONTENTS  jx 

Popular  Institutions  at  the  North — The  Constitutional  Restric 
tions  upon  the  General  Government  were  framed  for  the  purpose 
of  preventing  the  Downfall  of  Public  Liberty — The  tendency  of 
the  Government  to  disregard  them — The  Barriers  erected  to 
check  that  tendency — The  Independence  of  the  States  was  one 
of  those  Barriers — The  effect  of  the  proposed  "  Reconstruction  " 
will  be  to  destfty  it — The  Independence  of  the  Legislature  and 
Judiciary  constitutes  another  Barrier — It  was  secured  by  the 
Dependence  of  the  President  upon  them  and  of  the  Legislature 
upon  the  People — It  was  further  secured  by  the  President's  Per 
sonal  Responsibility — The  Provisions  to  protect  the  Liberties  of 
the  individual  Citizen  added  to  give  it  greater  Strength — Con 
sideration  of  the  Doctrine  that  the  Provisions  protecting  Personal 
Liberty  are  not  applicable  to  a  time  of  Civil  Commotion — Its 
effect  in  destroying  the  Responsibility  of  the  President  and  of  the 
Legislature  to  the  People — Its  effect  in  destroying  the  Independ 
ence  of  the  Legislature  and  Judiciary,  and  rendering  the  Pesident 
independent  of  both — The  President's  Plan  is  even  more  dan 
gerous  than  Mr.  Sumner's — The  policy  of  Subjugation  under 
either  Plan  frees  the  Executive  from  Control  or  Responsibility, 
and  leaves  the  Liberties  of  the  People  at  his  mercy — Effect  of  the 
vast  Increase  of  the  Annual  Expenses  of  the  Government  which 
it  involves,  in  disposing  the  Wealthy  Classes  to  the  Abolition  of 
Popular  Government — The  presence  of  a  large  Standing  Army 
will  destroy  the  Popular  Appreciation  of  the  existing  Form  of 
Government, 242 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Danger  to  Popular  Institutions  from  Party  Spirit  was  over 
looked  by  the  Authors  of  The  Federalist — The  Honesty  and 
Patriotism  of  the  present  Executive  and  his  Party  conceded — 
But  their  Political  Training  menaces  Public  Liberty  with  Destruc 
tion — The  Dangerous  Tendency  of  the  Doctrine  that  Rulers  must 
be  Unconditionally  Supported,  pending  a  Great  National  Crisis — 
Causes  of  the  excessive  Party  Spirit  which  has  hitherto  raged — 
Alarming  Results  which  it  has  already  produced— Further  Ex- 


x  CONTEXTS. 

cesses  which  it  threatens  during  the  state  of  Civil  Commotion 
which  will  follow  the  Military  Repression  of  the  South — They  will 
render  the  Preservation  of  Popular  Liberty  impossible — The 
situation  of  the  President  and  his  Necessities — Inefficiency  of  the 
restraining  Power  of  Conscience  over  a  Ruler  so  situated — The 
manner  in  which  the  Constitution  will  probably  be  overthrown 
and  the  Pretexts  by  which  its  Overthrow  will  b^justified — Viru- 
lency  of  Party  Spirit  during  Washington's  Administration — His 
Warning  to  his  Fellow-countrymen  against  its  Effects — His  Warn 
ing  against  Usurpation — Results  of  the  Teachings  of  all  the 
Writers  upon  the  Constitution — Incidents  of  the  Maryland  Elec- 
'tion  of  November,  1863, 280 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Suggestions  as  to  the  Possibility  of  restoring  the  Union  without 
destroying  Public  Liberty — The  most  important  Object  to  be  ac 
complished  is  to  impress  upon  the  Public  Mind  a  correct  under 
standing  of  the  Conditions  of  the  Problem — Also  to  modify  the 
Spirit  with  which  the  War  has  been  carried  on — There  will  be  no 
difficulty  in  framing  a  plan  when  those  Objects  have  been  attained 
— Reasons  for  believing  in  the  existence  of  a  Disposition  at  the 
South  to  return  to  the  Union  upon  honorable  Terms — The  Utility 
of  a  further  prosecution  of  the  War  discussed — Purposes  for 
which  it  should  be  prosecuted — The  E fleet  of  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  should  be  left  to  Judicial  Decision — The  political 
Power  of  Slavery  is  at  an  end — Urgent  Necessity  of  Remodelling 
the  Constitution — Reasons  why  the  holding  of  a  National  Con 
vention  at  an  rarly  day  is  indispensable,  irrespective  of  its  Influ 
ence  in  promoting  the  Restoration  of  the  Union — But  such  a 
Convention  can  !>••  ;uul  should  be  made  a  Powerful  Instrument  to 
hiisten  the  end  of  the  War — Reforms  which  it  should  accomplish 
—  Effect  of  those  Reforms  upon  the  Pacification  and  Prosperity  of 
the  Country,  and  the  Future  Permanence  of  the  Union,  .  316 


THE    FUTURE 


INTKODUCTIOISr. 

The  Object  of  the  Work — The  Propositions  which  it  aims  to  estab 
lish—The  Spirit  in  which  the  Author  will  endeavor  to  discuss 
them — The  propriety  and  importance  of  such  a  Discussion  at  the 
present  time — Practical  Questions  alone  to  be  considered. 

IN  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  diplomatic  dispatches 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  instructions  to  Mr. 
Dayton,  dated  April  twenty-second,  eighteen  hun 
dred  and  sixty-one,  will  be  found  this  passage  : 

"  The  American  people,  notwithstanding  any 
temporary  disturbance  of  their  equanimity,  are  yet 
a  sagacious  and  practical  people,  and  less  expe 
rience  of  evils  than  any  other  nation  would  require, 
will  bring  them  back  to  their  customary  and  habit 
ual  exercise  of  reason  and  reflection,  and  through 
that  process,  to  the  settlement  of  the  controversy 
without  further  devastation  and  demoralization,  by 
needless  continuance  in  civil  war." 

It  is  supposed,  less  from  the  context  of  the  dis 
patch,  than  from  the  Secretary's  well-known  skep 
ticism  at  that  time,  respecting  the  possibility  of  the 

!*  9 


JO  THE    FUTURE. 

northern  people  feeling  to  any  considerable  extent 
the  pressure  of  the  then  impending  civil  war,  that 
the  men  of  the  South  constituted  that  portion  of  the 
American  people  to  whom  he  particularly  referred, 
when  he  penned  the  sentence  quoted.  But  his 
remark  is  general,  and  the  characteristics  which  he 
ascribes  to  the  nation  are  those  to  wThich  the  men 
of  the  jSTorth  lay  peculiar,  if  not  exclusive  claim. 

I  propose  to  appeal  to  the  "  reason  and  reflec 
tion"  of  my  "sagacious  and  practical"  fellow-citi 
zens,  in  a  few  earnest,  but  I  hope  calm  and  mode 
rate  observations.  Assuming  that  we  propose  to 
prosecute  the  war  until  the  authority  of  the  Union 
is  completely  reestablished  in  all  the  territory  over 
which  it  extended  when  the  rebellion  broke  out, 
and  that  the  fortune  of  arms,  and  the  course  of 
political  events,  have  been  such  as  to  place  such  a 
consummation  within  our  reach,  I  will  assign  the 
reasons  for  two  conclusions  to  which  I  have  arrived, 
and  to  which  it  is  the  object  of  this  work  to  lead 
also  the  reader's  mind.  These  are,  first,  that  no 
calamity  could  befall  the  nation,  not  even  disunion, 
which  would  compare  in  its  disastrous  consequences, 
to  a  successful  termination  of  the  war,  under  such 
circumstances  as  to  leave  behind  it  a  permanent 
fri'liiiir  <>t'  hostility  and  hatred  to  the  Government 
of  the  Union,  on  the  part  of  the  people  over  whom 
our  victorious  arms  will  huvu  extended  our  sway  ; 
and  secondly,  that  such  a  feeling  will  naturally  and 


THE    FUTURE.  H 

inevitably  result  from  further  persistence  in  many 
of  the  measures  of  civil  and  military  policy  which 
we  have  already  adopted,  and  from  adopting  other 
measures,  having  the  same  general  tendency  which 
are  now  urged  upon  us  by  several  leading  states 
men. 

Although  I  wish  to  expose  my  work  to  the  charge 
of  partisanship  as  little  as  the  nature  of  the  discus 
sion  will  allow,  I  am  fully  sensible  of  the  impossi 
bility  of  gratifying  that  wish  except  to  a  very  lim 
ited  extent.  I  am  not  vain  enough  to  suppose  that 
I  can  succeed  by  any  effort,  however  honestly  and 
strenuously  made,  in  divesting  my  own  mind  en 
tirely  of  party  bias,  while  treating  of  subjects  which 
have  provoked  at  such  recent  periods  so  much 
acrimony  of  debate  in  political  conflicts,  "  quorum 
pars  fui."  And  I  know  very  well  that  at  a  time 
like  this,  when  the  passions  of  my  countrymen  are 
heated,  as  it  were,  to  the  boiling  point,  even  if  it 
was  possible  for  me  to  bring  to  the  discussion  of  my 
subject  the  calmness  and  impartiality  with  which 
posterity,  aided  by  experience,  will  judge  of  the 
men  and  measures  of  to-day,  I  should  appear  to 
many  honest,  intelligent,  and  patriotic  men,  to  have 
written  purely  as  a  partisan. 

But  I  will  approach  as  nearly  to  the  accomplish 
ment  of  my  purpose  as  the  adverse  circumstances 
under  which  I  write  will  permit.  To  that  end,  I 
will  treat  copiously  of  principles  and  sparingly  of 


12  THE    FUTURE. 

men,  and  when  the  nature  of  the  discussion  com 
pels  me  to  advert  to  the  acts  of  individuals,  I  will 
avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  captious  and  unfair  criti 
cism  of  their  conduct  and  uncharitable  construction 
of  their  motives.  And  I  will  advance  no  argument 
which  I  do  not  myself  believe  to  be  sound,  and  make 
no  assertion,  of  the  truth  of  which  I  am  not  myself 
fully  persuaded.  If,  nevertheless,  I  shall  justly  ex 
pose  myself  to  censure  for  the  spirit  in  which  I 
shall  write,  I  can  only  plead  the  infirmity  of  human 
nature  in  extenuation  of  my  fault. 

The  time  has  been  when  many  men  who  would 
have  agreed  with  me  in  some,  perhaps  all,  of  my 
general  conclusions,  would  have  deprecated  this 
discussion,  however  moderate  and  candid  might 
have  been  the  spirit  in  which  it  might  be  conducted. 
They  he-Id  that  while  the  very  existence  of  the  Gov 
ernment  was  trembling  in  the  balance,  it  did  not 
become  good  citizens  to  criticise  unfavorably  well- 
intended,  though  possibly  unwise  measures,  of  those 
to  whose  hands  was  irrevocably  confided  the  duty 
of  preserving  the  nation  from  annihilation. 

But  the  time  has  passed  when  such  an  argument 
had  any  weight.  A  presidential  election  is  ap 
proaching,  the  result  of  which  will  determine  the 
policy  of  the  nation  for  four  long  years  to  come — • 
years  during  which  its  destiny,  as  affected  by  the 
termination  of  the  war,  will  be  in  all  probability 
irrevocably  fixed  for  weal  or  for  woe.  The  powers 


THE    FUTURE.  13 

which  the  present  national  Administration  have 
wielded  daring  the  whole  continuance  of  the  war, 
are  now  again  to  be  committed  to  the  hands  of  the 
people,  to  be  recommitted  by  the  latter  to  such  per 
sons  as  they  shall  deem  most  worthy  of  the  high 
trust — that  is  to  say,  to  the  men  whose  principles, 
as  illustrated  by  their  past  conduct,  and  whose 
pledges  of  future  action  shall  be  those  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  people,  will  most  conduce  to  the 
national  safety  and  prosperity.  It  is  therefore  no 
longer  possible,  even  were  it  desirable,  to  avoid  the 
discussion  of  the  future  policy  of  the  nation,  and 
consequently  of  the  measures  which  have  already 
been  adopted.  The  wisdom  of  those  measures,  the 
propriety  of  longer  adhering  to  them,  the  adoption 
of  a  permanent  basis  of  the  settlement  of  the  con 
troversy — these  are  the  very  issues  which,  divested 
of  extraneous  considerations,  are  to  be  presented  in 
November  next  for  direct  adjudication  at  the  bar 
of  public  opinion.  And  all  men,  even  those  who 
have  heretofore  believed  that  such  discussion  should 
be  discountenanced,  must  now  form  their  own  opin 
ions  respecting  the  future  policy  of  the  nation,  and 
act  in  accordance  with  their  conclusions. 

It  will  be  my  endeavor  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possi 
ble,  all  doubtful  questions  which  are  not  of  imme 
diate  and  practical  importance.  And  in  general,  I 
shall  also  prefer  to  discuss  such  theories  of  constitu 
tional  law  or  of  political  science,  as  my  subject  will 


14,  THE    FUTURE. 

from  time  to  time  force  upon  me,  with  reference 
rather  to  their  practical  operation,  and  to  the  results 
to  which  they  will  lead  in  the  present  state  of  the 
country,  than  to  their  abstract  correctness  or  falsity 
as  general  propositions.  The  principal  exceptions 
which  I  shall  make  to  this  rule,  will  occur  when  the 
proposition  under  consideration  involves  a  question 
of  right  or  wrong :  that  is  to  say,  when  it  is  or  has 
been  used  to  justify  a  particular  measure  or  a  general 
policy,  and  its  decision  is  therefore  necessary  to  de 
termine  whether  the  course  which  we  have  pursued, 
or  which  is  recommended  for  our  adoption,  is  a  mere 
assertion  of  our  unquestionable  rights,  or  a  lawless 
and  unjustifiable  usurpation.  In  such  a  case  the 
question,  however  abstract  apparently,  will  become 
practical  in  the  course  of  the  discussion :  for  although 
there  are  many  among  us  who  scorn  to  inquire  what 
the  Constitution  requires  at  our  hands  in  dealing 
with  rebels,  I  shall  endeavor  to  show  in  the  pro 
gress  of  this  work,  that  we  cannot  expect  to  secure 
the  pacification  of  this  distracted  country,  or  to 
preserve  our  own  liberties,  if  we  allow  our  national 
Government  to  make  the  rebellion  a  pretext  for  dis 
regarding  its  own  constitutional  duties,  or  assuming 
powers  which  the  fundamental  law  has  withheld 
from  it. 

There  is  one  great  question,  the  solution  of  which 
would  be  eminently  practical  in  considering  how 
we  can  restore  peace  and  harmony  to  the  country, 


THE    FUTURE.  15 

which  I  am  compelled  to  ignore,  except  to  a  limited 
extent,  for  another  reason — it  is,  what  was  the  real 
cause  of  the  war  f  By  which  I  mean,  not  the 
ostensible  subject  of  the  quarrel,  for  that  was  the  in 
stitution  of  slavery ;  nor  the  direct  and  immediate 
causes  which  made  that  institution  the  subject  of  a 
quarrel,  for  these  may  in  general  terms  be  stated  to 
have  been  dislike  and  suspicion  of  the  people  of 
each  section  among  the  people  of  the  other ;  but  the 
means  by  which  those  feelings  were  aroused  and 
the  causes  which  led  to  them.  If  we  could  accu 
rately  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  war,  in  that  sense, 
we  should  have  made  considerable  progress  in  dis 
covering  a  remedy  for  our  difficulties,  and  a  basis 
of  lasting  pacification.  I  shall  make  the  attempt  to 
show  how,  when  disunion  was  once  determined 
upon  by  the  leading  politicians  of  the  South,  the 
masses  of  that  section  were  induced  to  favor  it. 
But  beyond  that  point  the  ground  is  too  dangerous 
to  tread  upon,  with  the  hope  of  producing  any  satis 
factory  results  in  a  work  of  this  character,  till  the 
excitement  of  the  present  shall  have  passed  away. 
Among  those  who  sincerely  deplore  the  commence 
ment  of  the  war,  and  long  for  its  termination,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  secure  future  harmony  and 
mutual  good-will  among  all  sections  of  the  country, 
there  is  the  widest  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 
degree  of  responsibility  for  its  existence  which  at 
taches  to  particular  men  and  particular  factions. 


10  THE    FUTURE. 

The  events  are  too  recent,  the  actors  in  them  are 
too  closely  connected  with  us  in  our  every-day 
avocations,  and  the  feelings  which  they  have  aroused 
are  yet  too  keen,  to  permit  of  their  being  considered 
with  the  calmness  with  which  I  hope  to  be  able  to 
treat,  the  subjects  which  I  propose  to  discuss.  All 
moderate  men  will  concede  that  in  both  of  the  lead 
ing  parties,  at  least  in  the  North,  there  has  been  a 
sincere  and  unqualified  attachment  to  the  Union  on 
the  part  of  a  vast  majority ;  and  that  what  has  been 
done  to  destroy  it,  has  been  the  result  chiefly  of 
passion,  prejudice,  ignorance,  error,  and  timidity, 
and  partly,  but  to  a  much  less  extent,  of  venality 
and  unscrupulous  ambition  on  the  part  of  the  lead 
ers  of  public  opinion,  and  the  incumbents  of  public 
office.  In  what  proportion  these  faults  and  errors 
are  to  be  ascribed  to  particular  factions  or  particu 
lar  men,  I  shall  not  undertake  to  determine. 

To  that  extent  "  forgetting  those  things  which 
are  behind  and  reaching  forth  to  those  things  which 
are  before,"  and  asking  my  reader's  forbearance 
and  indulgence,  if,  as  is  probable  in  the  present 
diversity  of  opinion  respecting  every  measure  of 
public  policy.  I  shall  fail  to  command  his  approba 
tion  in  every  particular,  I  invite  moderate  and 
thinking  men  to  consider  with  me  the  all-absorbing 
and  the  mighty  events  which  lie  hidden 
beneath  its  veil. 


THE    FUTURE.  17 


CHAPTER  I 

State  Sovereignty— Mr.  Sumner's  Attack  upon  it  in  "  Our  Domestic 
Relations" — The  Articles  of  Confederation— State  Sovereignty 
under  the  Confederation — Origin  and  Theory  of  the  Constitution 
— The  Powers  which  it  grants  to  Congress  and  denies  to  the 
States,  compared  with  those  granted  and  denied  by  the  Articles 
of  Confederation — The  Federalist  on  the  changes  made  by  the 
Constitution  and  on  State  Sovereignty — The  question  of  Supre 
macy  considered — Recognition  of  State  Sovereignty  in  the  Con 
stitution — Constitutional  and  Legislative  Provisions  of  New  York 
and  Massachusetts  on  that  Subject — Its  recognition  in  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  two  States  and  of  Congress,  relative  to  the  Cession 
of  Boston  Corner  to  New  York — Mr.  Sumner's  Opinion  in  1855. 

THE  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  enters  so  largely 
into  the  discussion  of  all  questions  connected  with 
the  commencement  or  the  termination  of  the  war, 
that  it  is  essential  in  a  work  of  this  kind,  to  have  a 
clear  understanding  at  the  outset  respecting  its 
soundness  and  the  results  to  which  it  leads.  Had 
these  pages  been  written  a  few  months  earlier,  I 
should  have  assumed  that  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States  was  so  generally  admitted  by  the  public  men 
of  the  !N"orth,  as  well  as  of  the  South,  that  I  could 
proceed  at  once,  without  occupying  the  reader's 
time  with  a  demonstration  of  its  existence,  to  con- 


13  THE    FUTURE. 

sider  the  consequences  which  legitimately  flow  from 
it,  and  the  perversions  to  which  it  has  been  sub 
jected.  But  "  the  world  moves,"  and  it  is  not  the 
least  significant  indication  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  passions  generated  and  the  new  interests  created 
by  nearly  three  years  of  civil  war,  have  upset  all 
preconceived  ideas  of  political  science  and  of  the 
theory  of  our  Constitution,  that  many  of  my  fellow- 
citizens  are  now  questioning  the  soundness  of  a 
proposition,  which  but  a  short  time  ago,  they  would 
have  treated  as  axiomatic.  It  is  because  this  doubt 
exists,  that  I  am  compelled,  much  against  my 
wishes,  to  defer  the  consideration  of  matters  per 
haps  better  calculated  to  interest  the  general  reader, 
till  I  have  completed  the  discussion  of  this  question 
of  constitutional  law. 

The  most  noticeable  of  the  recent  attacks  upon 
the  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty,  as  well  from  its 
boldness  and  its  elaborate  character,  as  the  reputa 
tion  and  position  of  its  author,  is  to  be  found  in  an 
article  in  a  recent  number  of  The  Atlantic  Monthly 
Magazine,  written  by  Senator  Sumner  of  Massa 
chusetts,  and  entitled  "  Our  Domestic  Kelations." 
I  shall  have  occasion,  in  a  subsequent  portion  of 
this  work,  to  consider  some  of  the  other  proposi 
tions  which  the  author  of  that  article  has  attempted 
to  establish  :  at  present  I  will  confine  my  attention 
to  that  portion  of  his  argument  which  aims  to  prove 
that  State  sovereignty  has  no  existence  under  the 


THE    FUTURE.  19 

Constitution.  As  Mr.  Sumner  is  beyond  question 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  champions  of  that 
doctrine,  I  presume  tbat  if  I  can  successfully  refute 
the  reasoning  contained  in  "  Our  Domestic  Rela 
tions,"  I  shall  have  overthrown  the  best  argument 
which  can  be  adduced  in  its  support. 

That  part  of  "  Our  Domestic  Relations"  which  is 
devoted  to  the  consideration  of  what  it  styles  u  the 
miserable  pretension  of  State  sovereignty,"  refers 
also  to  the  "  pestilent  pretension  of  State  rights," 
in  terms  (not  merely  the  different  adjectives)  which 
lead  me  to  conjecture  that  the  author  draws  in  his 
own  mind  some  line  of  distinction  between  the  two 
supposed  political  heresies.  But  as  he  does  not 
explain  that  distinction  in  such  a  manner  that  I 
have  been  able  to  discover  of  what  it  consists,  I  am 
compelled  to  consider  the  two  doctrines  as  identical, 
State  rights  being,  as  ordinarily  understood,  the 
right  of  the  States  to  enjoy  unmolested  that  portion 
of  sovereignty  which  the  Constitution  has  not  be 
stowed  upon  the  Federal  Government. 

That  no  such  right  or  no  such  sovereignty  exists, 
is  a  conclusion  which  is  announced  in  the  article  in 
question  in  the  following  words,  succeeding  a  de 
tailed  statement  of  the  origin  of  the  Constitution 
and  a  recapitulation  of  its  provisions  respecting 
Congress  and  the  States. 

"  Thus,  whether  we  regard  the  larger  powers 
vested  in  Congress,  the  powers  denied  to  the  States 


20  THE    FUTURE. 

without  the  consent  of  Congress,  or  those  other  pro 
visions  which  accord  supremacy  to  the  United  States, 
we  shall  find  the  pretension  of  State  sovereignty 
without  foundation,  except  in  the  imagination  of  its 
partisans.  Before  the  Constitution  such  sovereignty 
may  have  existed  ;  it  was  declared  in  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  ;  but  since  then  it  has  ceased  to  exist. 
It  has  disappeared  and  been  lost  in  the  supremacy 
of  the  national  Government,  so  that  it  can  no  longer 
be  recognized." 

I  shall  consider  separately  the  reasons  which  are 
thus  assigned  for  the  disappearance  of  the  sovereign 
ty  of  the  States ;  but  before  doing  so,  it  is  neces 
sary  for  me  to  have  more  satisfactory  evidence  that 
such  sovereignty  existed  under  the  Articles  of  Con 
federation,  than  is  contained  in  the  qualified  and 
hesitating  admission  of  that  fact,  which  the  forego 
ing  extract  contains.  For  if  it  is  distinctly  under 
stood  that  the  States  were  sovereign  when  the  Con 
stitution  was  adopted,  the  argument  will  be  nar 
rowed  down  to  the  single  question  whether  there  is 
such  a  radical  difference  between  the  relations  which 
now  exist  between  the  Federal  Government,  the 
States,  and  the  people,  and  those  which  existed  be 
tween  the  Congress  of  the  confederation,  the  States, 
and  the  people,  as  to  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Constitution  has  stripped  the  States  of  rights  of 
such  incalculable  importance,  which  they  confess 
edly  enjoyed  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 


THE    FUTURE.  21 

By  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  colonies 
asserted  that  they  were  "  free  and  independent 
States,"  and  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  which 
were  made  in  1777  and  ratified  in  1778,  purport  to 
be  the  compact  of  the  several  States  whose  inde 
pendence  was  thus  asserted.  It  was  expressly  de 
clared  in  them  that  "  each  State  retains  its  sover 
eignty,  freedom,  independence,"  and  every  power, 
&c.,  not  expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States, 
and  also  that  "  the  said  States  hereby  enter  into  a 
firm  league  of  friendship  with  each  other."  In  the 
determination  of  questions  each  State  had  one  vote 
in  a  congress  consisting  of  one  house  only,  and  cer 
tain  questions,  enumerated  in  the  Articles,  could 
only  be  decided  by  "the  assent  of  nine  States,"  that 
is,  by  the  vote  of  the  delegations  of  nine  States  in 
the  Congress.  The  President  was  merely  the  pre 
siding  officer  of  Congress,  that  body  having  execu 
tive  as  well  as  legislative  authority,  and  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  was  such  military  officer  as  Con 
gress  might  appoint.  The  Union  was  to  be  indis 
soluble — that  fact  being  asserted  expressly  and  bv 
implication  no  less  than  five  times  in  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  and  their  ratification.  The  title  of  the 
confederacy  was,  as  the  title  of  our  present  national 
Government  is,  "  The  United  States,"  and  the  word 
"  Union  "  was  used  as  descriptive  of  the  confede 
racy  and  of  the  bond  by  which  the  States  were  held 
together.  Of  course  the  constitutions  of  the  several 


22  THE    FUTURE. 

States  were  appropriate  for  the  exercise  of  that 
sovereignty  which  was  expressly  reserved  to  them. 

After  recapitulating  some  of  these  provisions,  the 
author  of  "  Our  Domestic  Relations  "  finds  it  impos 
sible  to  withhold  his  unqualified  admission  that  the 
States  were  then  sovereign,  lie  says,  "The  gov 
ernment  thus  constituted  was  a  eompa«-;  between 
sovereign  States,  or,  according  to  its  precise  lan 
guage,  '  a  firm  league  of  friendship  '  between  these- 
States,  administered  in  the  recess  of  Congress  by  '  a 
committee  of  the  States?*  Thus  did  State  rights 
triumph." 

The  Union  thus  constituted  is  aptly  compared  in 
The  Federalist  (No.  18)  to  the  Amphyctionic 
league,  and  the  "weaknesses  and  disorders"  which 
resulted  from  it  were  similar  to  those  which  afflicted 

the  Amphyctionic  states.     They  led  to  the  calling 

• 

*  I  have  copied  the  italics  in  the  extract  as  they  stand 
in  the  original  text.  The  clear  implication  of  this  para 
graph  is,  that  the  States  themselves  appointed  a  commit 
tee  to  manage  the  n flairs  of  the  Union  during  the  recess 
of  Congress.  In  truth,  the  "  committee  of  the  States  "  was 
nu  rely  one  of  the  regular  committees  of  Congress,  consist 
ing  of  one  delegate  selected  by  Congress  from  the  delega 
tion  from  each  State,  and  empowered  to  act  during  the. 
The  necessity  of  such  a  committee  will  be  appa 
rent,  win-n  it  i.-  remembered  that  Congress  was  the  execu 
tive  as  well  as  the  legislative  authority  of  the  Union. 

There  are  other  errors  of  a  similar  character  in  "  Our 
Domestic  Relations  ;"  of  course  I  assume  that  they  result 
from  carelessness  in  the  author's  mode  of  expn:  ;sioii. 


THE    FUTURE.  23 

of  the  convention  of  1787,  which  formed  our  present 
Constitution. 

That  instrument  undertook  to  remedy  the  defects 
of  the  confederation,  partly  by  enlarging  the  powers 
conferred  upon  the  Federal  Administration,  but 
chiefly  by  enabling  the  latter  to  operate  directly 
upon  individual  citizens  and  their  property,  instead 
of  relying,  as  did  the  Congress  of  the  confederation, 
upon  the  States  to  carry  into  effect  most  of  its  laws 
and  mandates.  In  other  words,  the  Constitution 
created  a  government,  that  is,  a  sovereignty,  to  which 
obedience,  and  therefore  allegiance  was  due  from 
each  citizen  within  its  territory,  to  the  full  extent 
of  the  powers  conferred  upon  it.  But  those  powers 
were  expressly  defined,  and  they  were  limited  to 
the  transaction  of  the  external  business  of  the  na 
tion,  and  to  a  few  specified  matters  of  internal 
administration,  which  it  was  necessary  that  the 
general  Government  should  regulate,  in  order  to 
enable  it  efficiently  to  fulfil  its  functions  respecting 
external  affairs,  or  which  could  not  be  committed' 
to  the  separate  action  of  each  State,  without  pro 
ducing  confusion  or  internal  discord.  And  it  was 
expressly  declared  in  an  amendment  which  was  in 
substance  contemporaneous  with  the  Constitution 
itself,  that  "  all  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to 
the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively 
or  to  the  people."  Bearing  in  mind,  therefore,  that 


24  THE    FUTUKK. 

the  States  were  sovereign  when  tlic  Constitution 
-.was  adopted,  it  is  manifest  thivt  all  sovereignty  not 
granted  to  the  United  States  remained  in  the  States 
themselves,  and  it  is  necessary  to  examine  the  in 
strument  itself,  to  ascertain  first,  whether  the  sov 
ereignty  of  the  States  was  affirmatively  ceded,  and 
secondly,  if  that  was  not  the  case,  whether  the 
attributes  and  powers  of  sovereignty  were  so  far 
ceded  that  those  which  remained  in  the  States  con 
stituted  such  a  mere  shadow  of  sovereignty,  that 
the  name  itself  is  no  longer  appropriate  to  describe 
them.  The  first  question  is  speedily  answered. 
The  Constitution  itself  nowhere  uses  the  word  "  sov 
ereign  "  or  "  sovereignty  "  when  treating  either  of 
the  States  or  of  the  national  Government.  It  recog 
nizes  the  former  as  then  existing  with  certain  rights 
and  privileges  which  it  makes  no  attempts  to  define, 
and  it  proceeds  to  organize  and  create  the  latter. 
And  an  examination  of  the  powers  which  it  confers 
upon  the  general  Government  will  show  very  con 
clusively  that  its  object  was  to  effect  what  The 
Federalist  (]S"o.  32)  very  correctly  calls  a  "  division 
of  the  sovereign  power."  They  are  far  from  being, 
as  the  author  of  "  Our  Domestic  Relations "  calls 
them,  "all  those  powers  which  enter  into  sover 
eignty."  Let  us  divide  them  into  two  classes; 
first,  those  which  were  precisely  or  substantially 
the  same  under  the  two  systems,  and  secondly, 
those  which  are  altogether  new 


THE    FUTURE.  25 

The  first  class,  those  which  were  common  to  both 
systems,  are  the  following :  to  borrow  money  on  the 
credit  of  the  United  States ;  to  pay  debts ;  to  appro 
priate  money  for  the  public  expenses  ;  to  regulate 
commerce  with  the  Indian  tribes ;  to  coin  money 
and  regulate  its  value ;  to  fix  the  standard  of  weights 
and  measures  throughout  the  Union ;  to  establish 
post-offices ;  to  define  and  punish  piracies;  to  enter 
into  treaties  and  alliances ;  to  declare  war ;  to  con 
clude  peace ;  to  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal ; 
to  make  rules  concerning  captures  by  land  or  water; 
to  raise  and  support  armies ;  to  appoint  naval  and 
military  officers ;  to  provide  and  maintain  a  navy ; 
and  to  make  rules  for  the  government  and  re 
gulation  of  the  land  and  naval  forces.  Some  of 
these  powers  were  conferred  upon  the  Congress  of 
the  confederation,  in  language  varying  somewhat 
from  that  employed  in  the  Constitution,  and  the 
mode  of  execution  of  some  of  them  was  by  means 
of  the  machinery  of  the  State  governments;  but 
they  were,  nevertheless,  POWEKS  granted  to  the 
Union  under  the  former  system,  and  the  obligation 
of  the  States  to  carry  into  execution  such  of  them 
as  the  latter  were  required  to  execute,  rendered 
them  theoretically  as  effective  as  they  are  at  pre 
sent.  Upon  this  subject  The  Federalist  may  be 
consulted  passim,  particularly  numbers  thirty-eight 
and  forty. 

The  second  class,  consisting  of  powers  which  Con- 
2 


26  THE    FUTURE. 

gress  has  under  the  Constitution,  and  whicn  were 
not  granted  to  the  Congress  of  the  confederation, 
are  the  following :  to  lay  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and 
excises  ;  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations 
and  among  the  States ;  to  establish  uniform  rules 
of  naturalization  and  of  bankruptcy ;  to  provide 
for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  United 
States  coin  and  securities ;  to  grant  copyrights  and 
patents  to  authors  and  inventors ;  to  define  and 
punish  offences  against  the  laws  of  nations ;  to  pro 
vide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the 
laws,  repel  invasions,  and  suppress  insurrections ; 
and  to  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disci 
plining  the  militia — the  power  to  train  the  militia 
and  to  appoint  the  officers  being  reserved  to  the 
States. 

The  restrictions  upon  the  powers  of  the  States 
which  the  present  Constitution  establishes  may  be 
classified  in  the  same  manner.  Those  which  wore 
common  to  both  systems  are  the  following:  citizens 
of  each  State  are  to  have  the  privileges  of  citizens 
of  all  the  States ;  criminals  fleeing  from  one  State 
to  another  are  to  be  surrendered  ;  full  faith  and 
credit  are  to  be  given  in  each  State  to  the  records, 
acts,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  the  others  ;  no  State 
shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  confedera 
tion  without  the  consent  of  Congress  ;  nor  without 
the  consent  of  Congress  keep  troops  or  ships  of  war 
in  time  of  peace,  or  enter  into  any  agreement  or 


THE    FUTURE  27 

compact  with  any  other  State,  or  a  foreign  power, 
or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded  or  in  im 
minent  danger.  All  these  restrictions  are  estab 
lished  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  substantially 
in  the  same  manner,  and  in  the  same  language,  as 
by  the  Constitution.  In  two  particulars  there  is 
a  difference  in  the  terms  of  the  prohibition,  without 
any  substantial  difference  in  its  practical  effect. 
The  Constitution  forbids  any  State  to  grant  letters 
of  marque  or  reprisal.  The  Articles  of  Confedera 
tion  forbade  such  letters  being  granted,  except  by 
the  consent  of  and  under  regulations  to  be  estab 
lished  by  Congress.  The  Constitution  forbids  the 
States  to  coin  money ;  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
vested  in  Congress  "  the  exclusive  right  and  power 
of  regulating  the  alloy  and  value  of  coin  struck 
by  their  own  authority,  or  that  of  the  respective 
States." 

The  restrictions  upon  the  States,  which  were 
added  by  the  new  system  to  those  which  formerly 
existed,  are  the  following  :  no  State  shall  emit  bills 
of  credit ;  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  a  legal 
tender  in  payment  of  debts ;  pass  any  bill  of  attain 
der,  ex-post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obliga 
tion  of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility  ;  nor 
shall  a  State  lay  imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or 
exports,  or  any  duties  of  tonnage,  without  the  con 
sent  of  Congress ;  fugitive  slaves  escaping  from  one 
State  to  another  are  to  be  surrendered  ;  the  United 


28  THE    FUTURE 

States  shall  guaranty  to  each  State  a  republican 
form  of  government.  So  far  as  the  prohibition  to 
pass  acts  of  attainder,  or  ex-post  facto  laws,  or  grant 
titles  of  nobility,  amount  to  an  argument  against 
the  existence  of  sovereignty,  the  same  prohibitions, 
in  the  same  words,  are  made  applicable  to  Congress; 
and  generally  it  may  be  stated,  that  the  law-making 
power  of  the  Union  is  much  more  restricted  by  the 
Constitution,  not  only  by  the  absence  of  grants  of 
power,  but  by  express  prohibitions  of  particular 
acts  of  its  exercise,  than  the  corresponding  power 
of  the  States. 

Now,  without  entering  into  a  detailed  considera 
tion  of  the  nature  arid  effect  of  the  different  trans 
fers  of  power  which  have  been  effected  by  the  Con 
stitution,  I  think  it  will  be  very  apparent,  from 
even  a  superficial  consideration  of  the  classification 
which  I  have  made,  that  with  reference  to  the  ex 
tent  of  powers  granted  to  the  Federal  Government 
or  denied  to  the  States,  the  Constitution  has  made 
no  radical  change  in  the  relation  between  the 
States  and  the  central  power.  In  truth,  as  I  stated 
before,  the  great  and  essential  difference  between 
the  Constitution  and  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
is  that  the  former  creates  a  government  to  take  the 
place  of  the  "  league  of  friendship  "  which  formerly 
existed.  It  might,  perhaps,  open  to  an  adept  in 
the  science  of  court  etiquette  a  promising  field 
for  the  exercise  of  his  bkill,  to  propound  to  him  the 


THE    FUTURE.  29 

question  whether,  given  a  limited  sovereign,  it  best 
comports  with  "that  divinity  which  doth  hedge" 
him,  that  he  should  be  compelled  to  exercise  cer 
tain  functions  of  sovereignty  at  the  will  of  another, 
and  without  power  to  approve  or  disapprove,  or 
that  his  functions  should  be  confined  to  those  cases 
in  which  he  knows  no  master  save  his  own  will. 
But  as  a  question  of  political  science,  I  apprehend 
that  it  is  of  no  importance  whatever.  Such  is, 
however,  the  principal  change  which  has  been  made 
in  the  former  relations  between  the  States  and  the 
Government  of  the  Union.  For  it  is  impossible  to 
lay  the  finger  upon  any  grant  of  power  to  the  new 
Government  which,  as  an  attribute  of  sovereignty, 
is  not  inferior  in  dignity  and  importance  to  many 
of  the  powers  conceded  to  the  Congress  of  the  con 
federation,  or  upon  any  restriction  of  the  States  in 
the  exercise  of  a  power  which,  as  an  attribute  of 
sovereignty,  is  not  at  least  equal  in  dignity  and  im 
portance  to  some  power  which  the  States  wrere  re 
stricted  from  exercising  under  the  former  system. 
As  examples  illustrating  simultaneously  the  truth 
of  each  of  these  propositions  I  will  refer  to  the 
powers  to  declare  wrar,  to  conclude  peace,  to  main 
tain  land  and  naval  forces,  and  to  enter  into  treaties 
and  alliances,  all  of  which  were  granted  to  the 

'  O 

Congress  of  the  confederation  and  denied  to  the 
States  as  they  are  under  the  existing  system.  There 
are  no  attributes  of  sovereign  power  which  can  out- 


30  THE    FUTURE. 

rank  either  of  these  ;  and  we  happen  to  have  at 
hand  (curiously  enough),  very  conclusive  evidence 
of  the  relative  rank  which  the  framers  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  assigned  to  those  very 
attributes  of  sovereignty  ;  for  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  adopted  by  a  Congress  composed 
mostly  of  the  same  men  who  framed  and  recom 
mended  for  the  adoption  of  the  States  the  Articles 
of  Confederation,  we  find  the  united  colonies  first 
declaring  in  general  terms  that  they  are  free  and 
independent  States,  and  then  adding,  "  that  as  free 
and  independent  States  they  have  full  power  to 
levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  establish 
commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  things  which  inde 
pendent  States  may  of  right  do."  There  are  thus 
four  attributes  of  sovereignty  which  our  forefathers 
deemed  worthy  of  special  mention  in  the  great  fun 
damental  charter  of  their  liberties,  three  of  which 
they  immediately  granted  to  Congress,  without 
any  suspicion  that  such  a  grant  affected  the  right 
of  the  States  to  complete  sovereignty  over  the  sub 
jects  of  which  they  retained  jurisdiction. 

With  reference  to  the  additional  grants  of  power 
made  to  Congress  by  the  Constitution,  I  will  copy 
I'mm  Number  46  of  The  Federalist,  adding  two 
short  notes,  intended  to  show  how  little  reason 
there  is  to  deduce  a  loss  of  sovereignty  by  the 
States,  from  the  two  most  important  of  the  addi 
tions. 


THE    FUTURE.  31 

"  If  the  new  Constitution  be  examined  with  accu 
racy  and  candor,  it  will  be  found  that  the  change 
which  it  proposes  consists  much  less  in  the  addition 
of  NEW  POWERS  to  the  Union  than  in  the  invigora- 
tion  of  its  ORIGINAL  POWERS.  The  regulation  of 
commerce  is,  it  is  true,  a  new  power,  but  that  seems 
to  be  an  addition  which  few  oppose,  and  from 
which  no  apprehensions  are  entertained.* 

"The  powers  relating  to  war  and  peace,  armies 
and  fleets,  treaties  and  finance,  with  the  other  more 
considerable  powers,  are  all  vested  in  the  existing 
Congress  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  The 
proposed  change  does  not  enlarge  those  powers  :  it 
only  substitutes  a  more  effectual  mode  of  administer 
ing  them.  The  change  relating  to  taxation  may  be 
regarded  as  the  most  important,  f  and  yet  the  pre- 

*  Among  other  arguments  used  elsewhere  by  The  Fede 
ralist  in  favor  of  this  clause  of  the  proposed  Constitution, 
it  is  mentioned  that  similar  powers  over  internal  commerce 
were  then  enjoyed  by  the  federal  authorities  of  Switzer 
land,  Germany  and  the  Netherlands.  The  author  of  "Our 
Domestic  Relations "  lays  great  stress  upon  the  power  of 
Congress  "  to  put  limits  roundabout  the  business  of  the 
several  States,"  but  I  opine  that  the  king  of  Prussia  would 
be  astonished  to  learn  from  a  grave  senator  of  the  United 
States,  that  his  predecessors  (Frederick  the  Great,  for 
instance)  were  not  sovereigns. 

f  Numbers  30  to  36  of  The  Federalist  are  devoted  to 
the  discussion  of  this  power.  Their  object  is  to  show  the 
propriety  of  granting  to  the  United  States  a  "  concurrent 
jurisdiction  with  the  States  in  the  article  of  taxation." 


32  THE    FUTURE. 

sent  Congress  have  as  complete  authority  to  REQUIRE 
from  the  States  indefinite  supplies  of  money  for  the 
common  defence  and  general  welfare,  as  the  future 
Congress  will  have  to  require  them  of  individual 
citizens ;  and  the  latter  will  be  no  more  bound  than 
the  States  themselves  have  been  to  pay  the  quotas 
respectively  taxed  on  them." 

The  new  restrictions  of  the  powers  of  the  States 
consist  partly  of  such  as  were  necessary  to  render 
effective  the  new  powers  granted  to  Congress,  and 
partly  of  covenants  or  compacts  that  no  State 
shall  exercise  its  powers  so  as  to  inflict  certain 
injuries  upon  the  others.  As  I  have  already  stated, 
they  exclude  the  States  from  but  a  very  small  por 
tion  of  the  privileges  which  were  left  to  them  by 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.  In  "  Our  Domestic 
Kelations"  the  powers  of  Congress  are  styled  "  that 
commanding  sovereignty  which  embrace*  and  holds 
the  whole  country  within  its  perpetual  and  irreversi 
ble  jurisdiction;"  and  those  of  the  States  are  desig 
nated,  by  way  of  contradistinction,  as  "  that  special 
local  control  which  is  essential  to  the  business  and 
convenience  of  life."  One  would  suppose  that  the 

In  Number  32  it  is  said,  that  such  jurisdiction  can  never  bo 
so  construed  as  to  interfere  with  the  State  right  of  taxa 
tion,  because  the  possibility  of  inconvenience  in  the  exercise 
of  its  powers  by  the  national  Government  could  not  "  by 
implication  alienate  and  extinguish  a  preexisting  right  of 
sovereignty" 


THE    FUTURE.  S3 

latter  sentence  (even  without  dwarfing  its  subject 
by  juxtaposition  with  the  "  tumultuous  grandeur  " 
of  the  phrase  which  precedes  it)  was  employed  to 
describe  a  village  corporation,  instead  of  a  State 
vested  with  full  legislative  power  over  the  lives, 
liberty,  and  property  of  millions — power  which  is 
absolute  and  supreme,  except  in  the  very  few  in 
stances  when  it  is  specially  limited  by  the  Federal 
Constitution.  Let  me  again  refer  to  The  Federalist 
for  a  proper  description  of  the  relative  functions  of 
the  National  and  State  Governments ;  and  as  the 
author  of  "  Our  Domestic  Relations "  cites*  Mr. 
Madison  in  support  of  the  theory  that  the  States 
are  not  sovereign,  I  will  select  my  extracts  from 
some  of  the  articles  written  by  that  distinguished 
statesman. 

From  No.  45 :  "  The  powers  delegated  by  the 
proposed  Constitution  to  the  Federal  Government 
are  few  and  defined.  Those  which  are  to  remain 
in  the  State  Governments  are  numerous  and  indefi 
nite.  The  former  will  be  exercised  principally  in  ex 
ternal  objects,  as  war,  peace,  negotiation,  and  foreign 
commerce,  with  which  last  the  power  of  taxation 
will,  for  the  most  part,  be  connected.  The  powers 
reserved  to  the  several  States  will  extend  to  all  ob 
jects  which,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  affairs,  con 
cern  the  lives,  liberties,  and  property  of  the  people, 
and  the  internal  order,  improvement,  and  prosperity 
of  the  State.''' 

2* 


34  THE    FUTURE. 

From  No.  40 :  "  We  have  seen  that  in  tne  new 
government,  as  in  the  old,  the  general  powers  are 
limited  ;  and  that  the  States,  in  all  unenumerated 
cases,  are  left  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  sovereign 
and  independent  jurisdiction." 

From  JSTo.  39 :  "  Bnt  if  the  government  be  na 
tional  with  regard  to  the  operation  of  its  powers,  it 
changes  its  aspect  when  we  contemplate  it  in  rela 
tion  to  the  extent  of  its  powers.  The  idea  of  a  national 
government  involves  in  it  not  only  an  authority 
over  the  individual  citizens,  but  an  indefinite  supre 
macy  over  all  persons  and  things,  so  far  as  they  are 

objects  of  lawful  government In 

this  relation,  then,  the  proposed  government  cannot 
be  deemed  a  national  one,  since  its  jurisdiction  ex 
tends  to  certain  enumerated  objects  only,  and  leaves 
to  the  several  States  a  residuary  and  inviolable 
sovereignty  over  all  other  objects." 

I  have  thus  considered  all  the  grounds  upon 
wbich  the  author  of  "Our  Domestic  Eolations " 
bases  his  denial  of  State  sovereignty,  except  the  su 
premacy  which  the  Constitution  accords  to  the 
United  States  Constitution  and  to  the  laws  "  which 
shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof"  But  it  is  evi 
dent  that  this  objection  is  already  answered  by 
what  precedes.  The  real  question  is,  have  the 
States  lost  their  sovereignty,  or  do  they  still  retain 
it?  If,  in  fact,  they  retain  "  a  residuary  and  invio 
lable  sovereignty  "  it  makes  no  difference  that  the 


THE    FUTURE.  35 

United  States  Government  is  supreme  in  tlie  exer 
cise  of  that  portion  of  sovereignty  which  has  been 
conceded  to  it. 

The  Federalist  very  correctly  gives  the  reason 
why  State  officers  are  bound  by  oath  to  support  the 
United  States  Constitution,  while  United  States 
officers  are  not  bound  by  oath  to  support  the  State 
constitutions,  which  is,  that  the  State  officers  con 
stitute  an  essential  part  of  the  machinery  employed 
in  the  operation  of  the  Federal  Government,  where 
as  Federal  officers  are  not  in  any  degree  relied 
upon  to  keep  in  motion  the  wheels  of  the  State 
governments.  And  as  to  the  language  of  the 
clause  of  the  Constitution  which  confers  supremacy, 
it  is  but  a  mode  of  expressing  the  object  to  accom 
plish  which  both  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and 
the  Constitution  were  framed,  that  is,  to  cleave 
down  in  certain  particulars  the  State  constitutions. 
As  The  Federalist  says  (JSTo.  33),  the  clause  of 
supremacy  "  only  declares  a  truth  which  flows  im 
mediately  and  necessarily  from  the  formation  of  a 
Federal  Government,"  and  I  may  add,  that  it  is  a 
mere  form  of  expression,  scarcely  available  to  settle 
a  question  of  etiquette ;  for  while  it  provides  that 
the  national  Government  shall  be  supreme  within 
its  designated  limits,  the  clause  withholding  from 
the  Federal  Government  all  powers  which  the  Con 
stitution  does  not  affirmatively  confer  upon  it, 
amounts  to  an  assertion  of  supremacy  in  the  States 


36  THE    FUTURE. 

for  all  other  purposes — a  supremacy  which  the 
national  Government  must  Low  to  as  well  as  the 
humblest  citizen,  so  long  as  the  Constitution  is  not 
overthrown  by  force  or  by  usurpation.  Mr.  Simmer 
has  himself  expressed  the  idea  very  appropriately 
in  a  speech  delivered  by  him  in  the  Senate  on  the 
26th  of  August,  1853,  in  which  he  says.  "  While 
the  nation  within  its  wide  orbit  is  supreme,  the 
States  move  with  equal  supremacy  in  their  own. 
From  the  necessity  of  the  case,  the  supremacy  of 
each  in  its  proper  place  excludes  the  other."  Here 
is  the  whole  case  in  a  nut-shell. 

Let  me  now  refer  to  a  few  of  the  express  provi 
sions  of  the  Constitution  itself.  I  have  previously 
stated  that  while  it  organizes  and  creates  the  na 
tional  Government,  it  simply  recognizes  the  States 
as  existing — and  I  may  add,  that  it  recognizes  them 
as  governments  exercising  the  attributes  of  sover 
eignty.  It  speaks  repeatedly  of  the  States  as  political 
bodies  possessing  a  "  legislature,"  "  executive,"  "  ex 
ecutive  authority,"  "  executive  and  judicial  officers," 
"judges,"  "constitution,"  "laws,"  "jurisdiction," 
"militia,"  "public  acts,  records  and  judicial  proceed 
ings,"  and,  finally,  a  "  form  of  government " — and 
in  the  latter  connection  it  provides  that  these  organ 
izations,  which  we  are  now  told  are  merely  a  species 
of  corporations,  shall  not  convert  themselves  into 
monarchies  or  aristocracies.  It  even  goes  farther, 
for  it  recognizes  the  possibility  of  the  crime  of  trea- 


THE    FUTURE.  37 

son  being  committed  by  those  whom  the  author  of 
"  Our  Domestic  Relations"  styles  "  the  individuals 
of  whom  the  several  corporations  were  composed," 
against  the  "  several  corporations"  themselves.  In 
truth,  the  following  extract  from  the  second  section 
of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Constitution,  contains  in 
itself  a  complete  refutation  of  the  theory  that  the 
States  lost  their  sovereignty  when  the  Constitution 
was  adopted. 

"  A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason, 
felony  or  other  crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice 
and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on  demand  of 
the  executive  authority  of  the  State  from  which  he 
fled,  be  delivered  up  to  be  removed  to  the  State 
having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime" 

This  clause  is  not  a  transcript,  but  a  remodelling 
of  a  clause  to  the  same  effect  in  the  Articles  of  Con 
federation,  the  language  having  undergone  suffi 
cient  alteration  to  show  that  it  had  been  carefully 
revised.  The  significance  of  this  clause  as  it  stands 
will  become  apparent,  by  considering  what  an  argu 
ment  it  would  have  offered  to  those  who  deny  the 
existence  of  State  sovereignty,  if  this  word  treason 
had  been  omitted  in  the  revision. 

I  have  stated  that  the  constitutions  of  the  States 
were  appropriate  to  the  exercise  of  that  sovereignty 
which  they  confessedly  possessed  under  the  Articles 
of  Confederation.  It  is  another  most  significant 
circumstance  that  those  constitutions  remained  in 


38  THE    FUTURE. 

full  force  and  unchanged  for  a  long  time  after  tlie 
adoption  of  the  Constitution.  The  constitution  of 
New  York  was  not  changed  (save  by  certain  amend 
ments  made  in  1801  and  relating  exclusively  to 
matters  of  local  administration)  till  the  year  1823. 
The  constitution  of  Massachusetts  remained  entirely 
unaltered  till  1820,  and  with  the  exception  of  some 
amendments,  relating  likewise  to  local  matters,  the 
same  constitution  continues  in  force  to  the  present 
day.  I  copy  two  of  its  paragraphs,  which  yet  re 
main  a  part  of  the  fundamental  law  of  that  State, 
whose  senator  has  now  discovered  that  it  is  merely 
a  political  corporation. 

"  The  people  of  this  Commonwealth  have  the 
sole  and  exclusive  right  of  governing  themselves,  as 
a  free,  sovereign  and  independent  State,  and  do 
and  forever  hereafter  shall  exercise  and  enjoy  every 
power,  jurisdiction  and  right,  which  is  not  or  may 
not  hereafter  be  BY  THEM  DELEGATED  to  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled." — Decla 
ration  of  Rights,  Article  I V. 

"  The  people  inhabiting  the  territory  formerly 
called  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  do  hereby 
solemnly  and  mutually  agree  with  each  other  to 
form  themselves  into  a  free,  sovereign  and  inde- 
pindnd  lody  politic  or  State,  by  the  name  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts." — Preamble  to 
Form  of  Government. 

In  New  York,  we  find  in  the  constitution  adopted 


THE    FUTURE.  39 

in  1846,  the  following  :  "  The  people  of  this  State, 
in  their  right  of  sovereignty,  are  deemed  to  possess 
the  original  and  ultimate  property  in  and  to  all 
lands  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State." — Arti 
cle  I.,  Section  II. 

The  legislation  of  the  two  States  has  been  equally 
explicit. 

"  The  General  Statutes  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts,"  enacted  in  the  year  1859,  contain 
the  following,  which  is  a  transcript  from  a  law 
which  has  been  reenacted  in  the  same  manner  at 
every  revision  of  the  statutes  of  Massachusetts,  since 
the  foundation  of  the  Government. 

"  The  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Com 
monwealth  extend  to  all  places  within  the  bounda 
ries  thereof,  subject  to  the  rights  of  concurrent 
jurisdiction  granted  over  places  ceded  to  the 
United  States."— Part  /.,  Chap.  L,  Title  1,  Sec.  2. 

A  statute  of  equal  antiquity  in  the  State  of  !N"ew 
York,  reenacted  for  the  last  time  in  1828,  provides, 

"  The  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  of  this  State 
•extend  to  all  places  within  the  boundaries  thereof 
as  declared  in  the  preceding  title,  but  the  extent 
of  such  jurisdiction  over  places  that  have  been  or 
may  be  ceded  to  the  United  States,  shall  be  quali 
fied  by  the  terms  of  such  cession." — R.  &,  Part  I.+ 
Chap.  L,  Title  2,  Sec.  1. 

By  subsequent  sections  it  is  made  the  duty  of 
the  Governor  "  to  maintain  and  defend  its  sover- 


4-0  THE    FUTURE. 

eignty  and  jurisdiction,"  and  "  if  any  suit  be  com- 
'menced  to  recover  lands  held  under  a  title  derived 
from  the  State  under  pretence  of  any  claim  incon 
sistent  with  its  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction,"  it  is 
made  the  duty  of  the  Governor  to  provide  for  the 
defence  of  such  suit. 

But  if  these  assertions  of  their  own  sovereignty, 
made  by  the  States,  notwithstanding  the  number 
of  years  during  which  they  have  passed  unchal 
lenged,  are  unsatisfactory  to  the  discoverers  of  the 
new  political  theory  that  no  such  sovereignty  ex 
ists,  I  will  adduce  in  further  evidence,  an  act  of 
the  same  character  to  which  the  national  Govern 
ment  was  a  party.  I  refer  to  the  proceedings  by 
which  the  district  of  Boston  Corner  was  ceded  by 
the  State  of  Massachusetts  to  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  the  consent  of  Congress  was  given  to 
the  cession. 

The  Massachusetts  statute,  passed  May  14-,  1853, 
commences  as  follows :  "  Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  Sec.  1, 
/Sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  over  that  portion  of 
this  commonwealth  known  as  the  district  of  Boston 
Corner,  situate,  &c.,  is  hereby  ceded  to  the  State 
of  New  York,  with  all  the  powers,  &c.,  now  exer 
cised  over  the  same  by  this  commonwealth." 

The  New  York  statute,  passed  July  21,  185?, 
commences  also : 

"  The  people,  &c.,  do  enact  as  follows :  Sover 
eignty  and  jurisdiction  over  that  portion  of  the  ter- 


THE    FUTURE.  41 

ritory  of  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  known 
as  the  district  of  Boston  Corner,  situate,  &c.,  ceded 
to  the  State  of  New  York  by  an  act  of  the  legis 
lature  of  said  commonwealth  passed,  &c.,  and  en 
titled,  &c.,  is  hereby  accepted  by  the  State  of  New 
York." 

Each  of  these  acts  was  by  its  terms  to  take  effect 
only  upon  the  consent  of  Congress  being  procured,  it 
being  somewhat  doubtful  whether  the  third  section 
of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Constitution  would  not 
apply  to  such  a  case.  Such  consent  was  accord 
ingly  given  by  an  act  passed  January  3,  1855, 
which  recites  that  "  whereas  the  commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts  by  an  act,  &c.,  ceded  the  sovereignty 
and  jurisdiction  over  that  portion  of  territory 
known,  &c.,  to  the  State  of  New  York  .  .  .  and, 
whereas,  the  State  of  New  York,  by  an  act,  &c., 
accepted  the  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  over  that 
portion  of  the  territory  of  Massachusetts  above  de 
scribed — Therefore,  be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  that  the  consent 
of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  be  and  the 
same  is  hereby  given  to  SAID  CESSION  and  annexa 
tion." 

If,  therefore,  the  author  of  "  Our  Domestic  Rela 
tions  "  is  worthy  of  the  honorable  appellation  of  the 
great  man  whose  seat  in  the  Senate  he  fills,  we 
have  here  the  extraordinary  spectacle  of  the  legis- 


42  THE    FUTURE. 

latures  of  two  of  the  principal  States  of  the  Union, 
the  Congress  and  President  of  the  United  States, 
ignorantly  or  wickedly  uniting  to  disgrace  the 
statute  books  by  an  affirmation  of  the  correctness 
of  a  doctrine  which  contravenes  the  whole  theory 
of  the  Constitution,  strikes  at  the  very  root  of  sound 
government,  and  if  made  the  basis  of  practical 
action,  would  subject  its  advocates  to  the  penalties 
of  treason.  For  Mr.  Sumner  tells  us  distinctly 
that  "  the  Constitution  .  .  .  can  bear  no  sover 
eignty  but  itself;"  that  "there  is  but  one  sover 
eignty  recognized,  and  that  is  the  sovereignty  of 
the  United  States ;"  that  "  State  sovereignty  .  .  . 
has  disappeared  and  been  lost  in  the  supremacy  of 
the  national  Government,  so  that  it  can  no  longer 
be  recognized ;"  and  that  when  "  the  Constitution 
was  adopted  .  .  .  the  miserable  pretension  of  State 
sovereignty  was  discarded." 

"Who  were  the  men  through  whose  ignorance  or 
corruption,  if  these  sentences  enunciate  political 
truths,  such  a  foul  wrong  was  done  to  the  majesty 
of  the  nation?  I  will  not  allude  to  the  members 
of  the  two  Houses  of  the  Legislature  or  the  gover 
nors  of  the  two  States,  or  to  the  Federal  House  of 
Representatives.  I  will  content  myself  with  refer- 
ring  to  the  United  States  Senate,  a  body  which 
then  comprised,  to  say  nothing  of  men  of  lesser 
note,  or  men  whose  southern  residence  might  lead 
to  their  rejection  as  expounders  of  constitutional 


THE    FUTURE.  43 

law — Messrs.  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine ;  Charles 
Sumner,  of  Massachusetts  ;  William  II.  Seward,  of 
Kew  York  ;  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan ;  Salmon  P 
Chase,  of  Ohio ;  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois. 
Mr.  Rockwell,  of  Massachusetts,  the  colleague  of 
Mr.  Sumner,  moved  that  the  bill  pass,  and  it  was 
passed  accordingly  without  debate,  the  ayes  and 
noes  not  being  called  for.  Why  did  none  of  these 
gentlemen  rise  and  disclose  the  disorganizing  politi 
cal  heresy,  which  we  are  now  told  is  contained  in  the 
act  referred  to  ?  Is  it  not  clear  that  it  was  because 
the  discovery  of  that  heresy  dates  from  the  period 
when  State  rights  became  an  inconvenient  obstacle 
to  the  success  of  particular  personal  or  political 
schemes?  In.  truth,  I  have  at  hand  evidence,  in 
the  published  writings  and  speeches  of  each  of  the 
gentlemen  whom  I  have  designated  by  name,  except 
Messrs.  Hamlin  and  Chase,  of  his  full  concurrence 
in  the  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty ;  and  I  doubt 
not  that  sufficient  research  would  enable  me  to  ad 
duce  evidence  that  those  two  gentlemen  also  hold, 
or  at  least  held,  the  same  doctrine. 

Did  space  permit,  I  could  furnish  innumerable 
extracts  to  the  same  effect  from  the  writings  and 
speeches  of  the  most  illustrious  jurists  and  states 
men  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present  day. 
And  it  is  a  curious  and  significant  fact  that  the  re 
searches  of  the  author  of  "  Our  Domestic  Relations  n 
have  enabled  him  to  fortify  his  argument  with  no 


4A  THE    FUTUltE. 

citations  to  the  point,  except  extracts  from  speeches 
made  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  by  members 
who,  in  their  zeal  for  the  new  system  of  government, 
were  betrayed  into  saying  that,  even  under  the 
then  existing  system,  the  States  were  not  sover 
eign. 

But  a  fear  of  wearying  my  readers  at  the  very 
commencement  of  my  work,  confines  me  to  a  few 
extracts  from  a  single  speech,  that  delivered  by 
Senator  Sumner,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
on  the  twenty-third  of  February,  eighteen  hundred 
and  fifty -five.  The  subject  of  the  speech  was  the 
fugitive  slave  law,  and  the  extracts  will  suffice  to 
show  in  what  a  different  light  he  viewed  "  the  pes 
tilent  pretension  of  State  rights "  as  well  as  "  the 
miserable  pretension  of  State  sovereignty,"  when — 
if  the  force  of  the  expression  will  excuse  its  home 
liness — the  United  States  bull  was  goring  Mr. 
Simmer's  ox.  The  author  of  "  Our  Domestic  Rela 
tions  "  then  spoke  as  follows : 

"  Suffice  it  to  say  that  it  [the  fugitive  slave  law] 
is  an  intrusive  and  offensive  encroachment  on 
Slate  rights,  calculated  to  subvert  the  power  of  the 
States  in  the  protection  of  their  citizens. 

"  There  is  an  argument  against  it  which  has  espe 
cial  importance  at  this  moment,  when  the  fugitive 
act  is  made  the  occasion  of  a  new  assault  on  State 
rights.  This  very  act  is  an  assumption  by  Congress 
of  power  not  delegated  to  it  under  the  Constitution, 


THE    FUTURE.  45 

and  an  infraction  of  rights  secured  to  the  States. 
You  will  mark,  if  you  please,  the  double  aspect  of 
this  proposition,  in  asserting  not  only  an  assump 
tion  of  power  by  Congress,  but  an  infraction  of 
State  rights.  And  this  proposition,  I  venture  to 
say,  defies  answer  or  cavil. 

#  *  *  *  *  * 

"  And  yet,  sir,  in  zeal  to  support  this  enormity, 
senators  have  not  hesitated  to  avow  a  purpose  to 
break  down  the  legislation  of  States,  calculated  to 
shield  the  liberty  of  their  citizens.  '  It  is  difficult,' 
says  Burke,  '  to  frame  an  indictment  against  a 
whole  people.'  But  here  in  the  Senate,  where  are 
convened  the  jealous  representatives  of  the  States, 
we  have  heard  whole  States  arraigned,  as  if  guilty 
of  crime.  The  senator  from  Louisiana  has  set  forth, 
in  plaintive  tones,  the  ground  of  proceeding,  and 
more  than  one  sovereign  State  has  been  summoned 
to  judgment 

"  And  now,  almost  while  I  speak,  comes  the 
solemn  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Wiscon 
sin,  a  sovereign  State  of  this  Union,  declaring  this 
act  to  be  a  violation  of  the  Constitution." 

Verily  the  author  of  "  Our  Domestic  Eolations  " 
should  have  prefixed  to  his  ingenious  essay  a  quota 
tion  from  a  poetic  collaborateur — 

"  Weep  not  that  the  world  changes — did  it  keep 
A  stable,  changeless  course,  'twere  cause  to  weep." 


THE    FUTURE. 


CHAPTER  H. 

The  Constitutional  Power  of  the  General  Government  to  suppress  a 
Rebellion — That  Power  not  affected  by  the  unwarrantable  sanc 
tion  of  a  Rebellion  by  a  State— The  impossibility  of  a  Consti 
tutional  Collision  between  the  State  and  National  Sovereignties— 
The  course  of  the  General  Government  in  the  Nullification  Con 
troversy — A  similar  course  in  this  Controversy  will  not  expose 
us  to  the  charge  of  coercing  Sovereign  States — Consideration  of 
the  Doctrines  of  Forfeiture  of  State  Rights  by  State  Treason,  of 
State  Suicide,  and  of  the  Abdication  by  a  State  of  its  Place  in  the 
Union. 

LET  us  now  proceed  to  inquire  what  effect  the 
doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  has  upon  tlie  coiisti- 
tutional  right  of  the  general  Government  to  use  its 
military  power  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  to 
obedience  rebels  against  its  authority,  who  plead 
the  mandates  of  their  own  States  in  justification  of 
their  rebellion,  and  what  objects  the  general  Govern- 
mc'iit  can  lawfully  propose  to  accomplish  by  the  use 
of  force  in  such  a  case. 

And  first,  has  the  general  Government  power  to 
employ  its  military  arm  against  rebels  in  any 
case  whatever?  I  do  not  understand  that  there  is 
any  conflict  of  opinion  among  us  upon  this  point. 
It  is  true  that  there  is  no  express  grant  of  any  such 


THE    FUTURE.  47 

power  in  the  Constitution — the  provision  authorizing 
Congress  to  provide  for  calling  out  the  militia  "  to 
execute  the  laws  of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrec 
tions  and  repel  invasions,"  being  generally  regarded 
as  limiting  the  power  of  the  Federal  Government 
over  the  militia  to  those  three  cases,  rather  than  as 
an  affirmative  grant  of  authority  to  do  the  several 
acts  specified.  Still  those  words  lead  irresistibly  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  power  "  to  suppress  insur 
rections  "  is  in  fact  lodged  in  the  central  Govern 
ment  ;  and  their  connection  with  the  rest  of  the 
sentence,  and  the  ample  powers  which  the  States 
enjoy  over  their  own  militia,  indicate  very  conclu 
sively  that  the  insurrections  referred  to,  are  those 
against  the  authority  of  the  Union,  and  not  of  the 
several  States.  In  truth,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
resort  to  this  clause,  to  justify  the  use  of  force  to 
suppress  a  rebellion.  Such  a  right  results,  by  neces 
sary  implication,  from  the  establishment  of  a  gov 
ernment  empowered  to  require  the  obedience  of  all 
its  citizens,  to  the  extent  of  the  authority  conferred 
upon  it,  and  consequently  entitled  to  their  allegi 
ance  to  that  extent.  Any  such  government,  pos 
sessing  a  military  arm,  has  the  unquestionable  right 
to  use  that  arm  to  compel  its  subjects  to  obey  its 
laws  and  respect  its  rightful  authority,  whenever 
the  civil  power  proves  to  be  insufficient  for  that 
purpose.  We  find  accordingly  in  that  part  of  the 
Constitution  which  treats  of  the  powers  of  Congress, 


48  THE    FUTURE. 

a  provision  that  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  be 
suspended  only  when  "  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  inva 
sion  the  public  safety  may  require  it."  And  our 
history  shows  that  such  a  power  was  exercised  in 
the  earliest  days  of  the  republic,  and  while  the 
Government  was  administered  by  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution,  and  their  immediate  contemporaries, 
with  Washington  at  their  head. 

Nor  will  the  right  to  exercise  such  a  power  be 
affected  by  the  circumstance  that  the  rebellion 
purports  to  be  justified  by  a  State,  when  the  insur 
gents  are  resisting  the  lawful  and  constitutional 
authority  of  the  Federal  Government. 

The  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  does  not  legiti 
mately  lead  to  any  such  conclusion,  because  it  does 
not  require  its-  advocates  to  deny  the  sovereignty 
of  the  national  Government.  As  stated  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  the  Constitution  divides  the 
sovereign  power,  and  allots  distinct  and  different 
portions  of  it  to  the  Federal  Government  and  to  the 
States  respectively.  It  was  evidently  the  design  of 
the  framers  of  that  instrument  to  render  a  conflict 
of  jurisdiction  between  the  two  impossible,  by 
drawing  a  clear  line  of  demarkation,  which  should 
restrain  each  within  certain  distinctly  defined  limits. 
E \\-ry  citizen  of  the  nation  was  to  owe  a  double 
allegiance,  that  is,  an  allegiance  to  two  separate 
sovereigns — but  this  double  allegiance  was  never  to 
require  from  him  inconsistent  duties  and  obliga- 


THE    FUTURE.  49 

tions.  A  clash  of  rightful  jurisdiction  between  the 
States  and  the  nation  was  rendered  impossible  by 
the  enumeration  of  specific  powers  granted  to  the 
latter,  and  the  provision  that  "the  powers  not 
delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution, 
nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to 
the  States  respectively  or  the  people."  And  as  it  is 
entirely  clear  that  no  case  of  the  exercise  of 
authority  can  be  suggested,  which  will  not  fall 
within  one  of  the  two  classes,  that  is,  powers  dele 
gated,  or  powers  not  delegated,  it  is  apparent  that 
the  two  governments  can  never  rightfully  require 
from  the  citizen  obedience  at  the  same  time  to  two 
contradictory  mandates.  Whenever  such  a  conflict 
apparently  occurs,  one  of  the  two  must  necessarily 
be  a  usurper. 

The  fact  that  cases  have  continually  arisen  where 
each  government  claimed  that  the  Constitution 
authorized  it  to  exercise  jurisdiction,  does  not  mili 
tate  against  the  soundness  or  the  application  of  this 
principle.  Such  conflicts  of  authority  have  resulted, 
not  from  any  actual  omission  in  the  Constitution  to 
provide  for  every  possible  case,  for,  as  we  have 
seen,  every  possible  case  is  provided  for  ;  but  merely 
from  the  imperfection  of  human  language,  which 
has  frequently  rendered  it  impossible  to  ascertain 
immediately,  by  reference  to  the  words  used  in  the 
Constitution,  whether  in  a  particular  case  jurisdic 
tion  was  granted  to  the  Federal  Government  or  re- 

3 


50  THE    FUTUIIE. 

served  to  the  States.  A  precisely  similar  state  of 
things,  and  for  the  same  reason,  frequently  occurs 
under  the  provisions  of  the  constitutions  and  sta 
tutes  of  the  different  States,  when  the  question 
arises  between  the  State  government  and  the  citi 
zen,  or  between  different  departments  of  the  State 
government.  In  neither  case  was  it  intended  that 
any  doubt  should  exist;  and  in  each  case,  when 
the  question  arises,  the  object  of  the  tribunal  which 
settles  it  is  to  ascertain,  not  how  to  provide  for  the 
contingency  which  has  occurred,  but  how  the  con 
stitution  or  statute  in  question  provided  for  it ;  and 
when  that  is  once  ascertained,  the  effect  is  the  same 
as  if  such  a  provision,  for  such  a  particular  case, 
was  incorporated  into  the  body  of  the  instrument 
itself.  And  the  object  of  creating  a  national  tri 
bunal,  with  power  to  settle  such  questions  as  they 
might  arise,  was  to  avoid  all  danger  of  a  resort  to 
the  sword,  and  to  protect  the  citizen  against  the 
consequences  of  mistaking  the  sovereignty  to  which 
obedience  was  due. 

It  is  one  of  the  results  of  the  impossibility  that 
any  conflict  of  rightful  authority  between  the  State 
and  Nation  should  ever  occur  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  that  neither  can,  in  any  case,  have  the  power  to 
molest  the  other,  or  empower  the  common  subjects 
of  both  to  molest  the  other,  in  the  full  and  unre 
stricted  exercise  of  its  allotted  portion  of  the  sove 
reign  power.  It  is,  therefore,  clear  that  the  doc- 


THE    FUTURE.  51 

trine  of  State  sovereignty  does  not  justify  a  rebel 
lion  against  the  rightful  power  of  the  general  Gov 
ernment,  notwithstanding  that  such  rebellion  may 
be  sanctioned  by  the  authority  of  the  State. 

The  great  point  of  difference  between  us  and  the 
South,  respecting  the  constitutionality  of  the  war  on 
our  part,  arises  not  out  of  the  doctrine  that  the  States 
are  sovereign  as  to  all  matters  not  delegated  to  the 
United  States  by  the  terms  of  the  Constitution,  but 
because  the  southern  statesmen  affirm  the  existence 
of  a  State  sovereignty  which  overrides  the  Constitu 
tion.  They  contend  that  any  State  has  the  constitu 
tional  right  to  withdraw  at  pleasure  from  the  Union  ; 
and  that  whenever  it  exercises  that  right,  the  alle 
giance  which  the  individual  citizen  of  that  State 
owed,  under  the  Constitution,  to  the  national  Go 
vernment  is  at  once  dissolved,  the  entire  allegiance 
of  the  citizen  is  ipso  facto  transferred  to  the  State, 
thus  rendered,  by  its  own  act,  completely  sovereign 
and  independent ;  and  an  attempt  on  the  part  of 
the  general  Government  to  coerce  obedience  from 
the  citizen  becomes  an  act  of  usurpation.  It  fol 
lows  from  their  premises  that  a  war  waged  for  such 
a  purpose  is  a  war  of  conquest  merely,  a  striking 
coincidence  with  the  conclusion  to  which  those  who 
deny  the  existence  of  any  State  sovereignty  what 
ever  have  also  arrived  from  their  premises.  It  is 
by  no  means  the  first  time  that  moderate  men  have 
had  occasion  to  notice  the  remarkable  similarity  of 


52 


THE    FUTURE. 


the  conclusions  upon  constitutional  questions  which 
the  extremists  of  the  northern  and  southern  sections 
have  reached,  starting  from  premises  as  wide  apart 
as  the  poles,  and  pursuing  their  converging  course 
with  mutual  hatred  and  reviling. 

I  shall  not  encumber  these  pages  with  a  disserta 
tion  upon  the  constitutional  right  of  secession.  So 
far  as  I  am  informed,  no  public  man  at  the  North 
maintains,  at  least  openly,  the  existence  of  such  a 
right,  and  its  fallacy  has  been  demonstrated  repeat 
edly  by  arguments  which  appear  to  us  to  be  entirely 
conclusive.  It  is  impossible  at  present  to  procure 
the  adjudication  of  the  Supreme  Court  upon  this 
question,  and  its  consequent  determination  as  a  pro 
position  of  constitutional  law.  That  tribunal  is  en 
tirely  competent  to  dispose  of  it  (so  perfect  were 
the  provisions  which  our  forefathers  made  for  the 
peaceful  settlement  of  all  our  disputes),  but  the 
sword  has  been  appealed  to,  and  the  sword  alone 
can  now  decide  the  issue. 

But  it  has  been  maintained,  by  statesmen  of  both 
sections  of  the  country,  that  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  has  no  power  to  coerce  the  States,  because 
the  very  idea  of  sovereignty  is  inconsistent  with  the 
right  of  coercion  by  any  other  power,  and  hence 
it  is  said  that  when  a  State  attempts  to  exercise  the 
pretended  right  of  secession,  the  national  Govern 
ment  is  powerless  to  redress  the  wrongful  act  by 
force  of  arms.  There  would  be  considerable  force 


• 
THE    FUTURE.  53 

in  this  argument,  if  it  was  necessary  to  assail  the 
sovereignty  of  the  States  in  order  to  reinstate  the 
Federal  Government  in  the  exercise  of  its  rightful 
jurisdiction  over  rebel  territory.  But  no  such  ne 
cessity  exists ;  we  have  only  to  follow  out  the  prin 
ciples  which  I  have  laid  down  to  their  legitimate 
conclusion.  A  State  having,  as  we  hold,  no  power 
to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  its  attempt  to  do  so 
is  simply  an  excess  of  jurisdiction,  and  therefore 
absolutely  void,  and  to  be  treated  in  all  respects  as 
a  nullity.  The  case  is  precisely  the  same  as  if  it 
had  undertaken  to  do  any  other  act  which  the  Con 
stitution  prevents  it  from  doing.  I  need  not  resort 
to  my  imagination  to  suppose  such  a  case,  for  it  is 
well  known  that  South  Carolina  undertook  at  one 
period  of  our  history  to  nullify  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  providing  for  the  collection  of  the 
duties  upon  imports.  The  United  States  authori 
ties  treated  the  act  as  entirely  void,  and  proceeded 
to  collect  the  revenue  under  the  protection  of  the 
navy,  at  the  same  time  menacing  those  who  should 
resist  such  collection  with  criminal  proceedings, 
and,  if  necessary,  with  the  employment  of  the  land 
forces.  But  these  menaces  were  directed  against 
individuals  wrongfully  resisting  the  Federal  author 
ity,  the  question  whether  they  were  or  were  not 
State  officials  being  entirely  ignored  ;  and  no  sug 
gestion  was  made  that  the  State  authorities  should 
be  deposed,  or  that  the  armed  power  of  the  nation 


54  THE    FUTURE. 

should  be  employed  to  coerce  them,  even  to  re 
verse  the  wrongful  action  of  the  State.  This  course 
was  perfectly  consistent  with  the  sovereignty  of  the 
nation  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  State,  and  so  long 
as  we  pursue  the  same  course  in  dealing  with  indi 
viduals  who  are  now  in  rebellion,  we  are  not  justly 
chargeable  with  coercing  States ;  we  are,  on  the  con 
trary,  "letting  the  seceded  States  alone,"  and  merely 
refusing  to  allow  individuals  to  commit  treason,  and 
justify  themselves  under  an  enactment  which  is 
entirely  void  for  want  of  jurisdiction. 

It  seems  to  me  that  these  conclusions  involve  no 
metaphysical  subtlety  or  too  finely  drawn  distinc 
tions  :  but  if  any  portion  of  the  argument  is  justly 
chargeable  with  those  faults,  it  is  that  which  main 
tains  the  right  of  the  Government  to  carry  on  the 
war,  notwithstanding  the  mandates  of  the  States. 
The  proposition  that  the  only  legitimate  object 
of  the  war  is  to  restore  the  "  status  quo  ante  bel- 
lum,"  by  reestablishing  the  federal  authority  in 
its  original  integrity  over  those  individuals  who 
have  rebelled  against  it,  is  but  the  natural  con 
clusion  to  be  drawn  from  the  principles  upon  which 
we  defend  the  authority  of  the  national  Govern 
ment  to  carry  on  the  war  at  all.  Whether  we 
deduce  that  authority  from  the  implied  right  of 
every  government  to  cause  its  legitimate  authority 
to  be  respected  by  force,  or  whether  we  iind  it 
in  the  clause  authorizing  the  militia  to  be  called 


THE    FUTURE.  55 

out  "  to  suppress  insurrections,"  it  is  manifest  that 
the  power  is  exhausted  whenever  the  unlawful 
resistance  is  at  an  end,  and  the  civil  power  of  the 
Government  has  become  adequate  to  the  due  ad 
ministration  of  the  Federal  laws. 

But  some  of  our  statesmen  now  contend  that 
although  such  may  be  primarily  the  only  legitimate 
object  of  the  war,  yet  that  as  a  necessary  conse 
quence  of  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  States  to 
secede,  and  their  subsequently  wrongfully  making 
war  upon  the  United  States,  they  have  forfeited 
their  constitutional  rights,  and  the  restoration  of 
their  territory  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  general 
Government  will  be  unaccompanied  with  any  con 
stitutional  restriction  whatever  upon  the  latter  in 
the  exercise  of  power  within  that  territory.  Several 
reasons  are  given  for  that  conclusion.  In  the  first 
place  it  is  said  that  the  States  have  committed 
treason  by  making  war  upon  the  nation.  I  have 
already  shown  that  it  is  a  constitutional  impossi 
bility  that  a  State  should  make  war  upon  the  nation, 
and  that  if  the  forms  of  State  authority  are  used  by 
usurpers  to  carry  on  such  a  war,  the  national  Govern 
ment  cannot  recognize  it  as  a  war  carried  on  by  the 
State,  and  make  even  a  defensive  war  upon  the  State 
in  return,  without  committing  an  equally  flagrant 
usurpation.  But  other  principles,  equally  funda 
mental,  forbid  the  conclusion  that  such  a  war  can 
result  in  the  loss  of  the  constitutional  rights  of  a 


56  THE    FUTURE. 

State.  In  the  strict  legal  sense  of  tlie  term  it  is 
impossible  for  a  sovereignty  to  commit  treason ; 
still,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  in  a  federative  form 
of  government,  one  of  the  members  of  the  confede 
ration  may  commit  an  offence  against  the  federative 
compact,  which  will  have  practically  the  same 
consequences  as  the  commission  of  the  crime  of 
treason  by  an  individual  subject  against  his  sover 
eign.  Such  were  the  offences  which,  under  the 
Germanic  confederation,  were  punished  by  the 
offending  sovereign  being  placed  under  the  "  ban 
of  the  empire,"  the  consequences  of  which  were  the 
loss  of  the  sovereign  rights  ^and  possessions  of  the 
offender,  to  be  enforced  by  the  armed  power  of  the 
confederation,  or  of  particular  states  to  which  the 
execution  of  the  decree  might  be  committed. 

But  can  an  offence  involving  such  consequences, 
be  committed  against  the  federative  compact  by  a 
state  possessing  a  REPUBLICAN  form  of  government  ? 
In  a  monarchy  the  crown  is  the  individual  inherit 
ance  of  the  monarch,  just  as  the  dukedoms,  mar- 
quisates,  &c.,  are  the  individual  inheritances  of  the 
nobles  respectively,  and  the  case  may  well  occur 
when  it  will  be  no  offence  against  common  right  to 
punish  him  for  a  crime  by  depriving  him  of  the 
dignity  which  he  has  abused.  But  those  who  ad 
minister  the  government  in  a  republic  have  no  per 
sonal  interest  in  the  government  itself;  they  are 
mere  temporary  occupants  of  public  station ;  and 


THE    FUTURE. 


to  deprive  the  State  of  its  powers  and  jurisdiction 
for  their  misconduct  is  to  punish  the  innocent  com 
monalty,  who  have  already  been  aggrieved  by  the 
unjustifiable  acts  of  men  who  may  have  owed  their 
positions  to  corruption,  fraud,  or  perhaps  violence, 
and  who  have  certainly  exceeded,  in  committing 
unconstitutional  acts,  the  authority  which  was  con 
fided  to  them  by  the  people.  ISTor  would  the  case 
be  altered  by  the  submission  of  the  ordinance  of 
secession  to  the  people  themselves.  The  rights  of 
majorities,  as  well  as  of  public  officials,  are  defined 
by  the  terms  of  the  State  and  national  constitutions, 
and  for  a  majority  to  commit  an  unconstitutional 
act,  in  defiance  of  the  wishes  of  a  minority,  is  a 
usurpation  of  the  same  character  as  the  commission 
of  a  similar  act  by  a  public  official.  But  in  point 
of  fact,  the  ordinances  of  secession  were  adopted  by 
the  vote  of  the  people  in  only  two  of  the  States. 

I  think,  then,  that  the  idea  that  a  State  can  com 
mit  treason,  in  consequence  of  the  unconstitutional 
acts  of  those  who  are  administering  its  government, 
is  utterly  at  war  with  the  theory  upon  which  our 
whole  political  system  is  constructed.  But  a  con 
sideration  of  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  and 
of  the  principles  to  which  I  have  already  adverted, 
will  make  it  manifest  that  no  treason  against  the 
general  Government  can  possibly  be  committed  by 
a  State.  For  the  latter  owes  no  allegiance  to  the 
general  Government  in  any  respect.  As  I  have 


58  THE    FUTURE. 

previously  stated,  the  Constitution  has  provided  for 
such  a  perfect  division  of  the  functions  of  govern 
ment  between  the  two  sovereignties,  that  neither 
occupies  a  position  of  constitutional  subordination 
to  the  other.  They  are  planets  with  entirely  differ 
ent  orbits,  which  cannot  by  any  possibility  collide 
with  each  other,  until  the  whole  system  is  wrecked. 
The  struggle  on  the  part  of  the  South  is  to  wreck 
the  system,  but  we  profess  to  be  fighting  to  save  it 
from  destruction.  By  recognizing  the  war,  as  made 
by  the  States  upon  the  general  Government,  we  are 
actually  aiding  the  rebels  in  their  unlawful  purpose 
to  usurp  in  the  name  of  the  States  a  jurisdiction 
which  the  Constitution  has  withheld  from  them. 
To  aid  in  that  usurpation  and  to  make  it  a  pretext 
to  deprive  the  States  of  powers  which  they  hold  by 
a  tenure  even  stronger  than  that  under  which  the 
general  Government  holds  all  its  powers,  is  first  to 
become  parties  to  the  conspiracy  against  the  Con 
stitution,  and  then  to  make  the  existence  of  the 
conspiracy  an  excuse  for  a  crime  even  more  stu 
pendous  than  that  which  the  original  conspirators 
contemplated.  Such  a  course  of  conduct  cannot  be 
justified  by  those  who  are  equally  unwilling  to 
allow  the  southern  revolution  to  triumph,  and  to 
become  revolutionists  themselves,  unless  it  can  be 
shown  that  the  States  hold  their  reserved  sover 
eignty  under  the  Constitution  during  good  beha 
vior — "  quamdiu  se  bene  gesserint  " — or  until  it  has 


THE    FUTURE.  59 

become  an  established  maxim  in  political  science 
and  public  morality  that  two  wrongs  make  a  right. 

The  same  argument  answers  two  other  theories 
by  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  establish  the 
doctrine  that  the  States  have  lost  their  rights  in 
consequence  of  the  rebellion  carried  on  in  their 
name,  to  wit,  that  they  have  committed  political 
suicide,  and  that  they  have  abdicated  their  places 
in  the  Union.  These  may,  in  fact,  be  regarded  as 
two  different  methods  of  stating  the  proposition 
that  they  have  forfeited  their  rights  by  their  treason. 

There  are,  however,  other  reasons  assigned  for 
the  alleged  disappearance  of  State  rights,  which 
call  for  a  cursory  examination.  They  will  be  con 
sidered  in  the  next  chapter 


(JO  TIIK    FLTl'RK 


CHAPTER  HI. 

Answer  to  Senator  Sumner's  Theory  of  a  "  Tabula  rasa"  in  conse 
quence  of  the  vacancy  of  the  State  Offices — The  unconstitution 
ally  of  the  project  to  disfranchise  Individuals  or  Classes  by  Act 
of  Congress — The  recognition  of  the  Insurgents  as  Belligerents 
will  not  give  us  the  rights  of  Conquerors  over  Territory  wrested 
from  them — State  Rights,  not  being  derived  from  the  Constitu 
tion,  cannot  be  forfeited  to  the  General  Government — That  Gov 
ernment  has  no  power  to  disturb  the  balance  of  our  Political 
System  by  accepting  such  a  Forfeiture. 

THE  author  of  "  Our  Domestic  Relations  "  brushes 
aside  the  theories  of  State  forfeiture,  State  treason, 
and  State  abdication,  as  "  endless  mazes  in  which 
a  whole  Senate  may  be  lost,"  and  prefers  to  rest  his 
argument  on  the  fact  that  the  rebel  States  have 
now  no  State  officers  who  have  taken  the  constitu 
tional  oaths  of  office ;  therefore,  he  says,  their  go 
vernments  are  vacated,  and  there  are  no  officers  who 
are  capable  of  superintending  new  elections,  or  of 
administering  oaths  of  office  to  such  persons  as  might 
be  selected  to  fill  the  vacancies ;  and  from  these 
premises  he  deduces  the  conclusion,  that "  the  whole 
broad  rebel  region  is  tabula  rasa,  or  c  a  clean  slate, 
whereon  Congress,  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  may  write  the  laws." 


THE    FUTURE.  61 

I  will  not  stop  to  consider  the  question  whether, 
inasmuch  as  the  requirement  that  an  oath  of  office 
to  support  the  Constitution  shall  be  taken  by  State 
officers,  is  mandatory  merely,  and  not  made  a  con 
dition  precedent  to  the  discharge  of  their  official 
functions,  an  omission  to  comply  with  it  authorizes 
the  Federal  authorities  to  treat  the  offices  as  vacant, 
while  their  functions  are  discharged  by  officers  de 
facto,  at  loast  until  the  latter  shall  be  ousted  by 
legal  proceedings  ;  nor  whether,  if  the  Federal  au 
thorities  would  have  such  a  right,  the  State  officials 
may  not  at  any  future  time  qualify  themselves  by 
taking  the  oath  required.  JSTo  lawyer  wTill  hesitate 
to  say  that  these  are  grave  questions  for  the  judi 
cial  department  of  the  Government,  and  which  it 
would  be  rash  for  executive  or  legislative  authority 
to  dispose  of  summarily ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
there  is  an  obvious  answer  to  the  conclusion,  drawn 
from  such  questionable  premises,  .which  cannot  fail 
at  once  to  impress  the  general  reader  with  its  force. 
For  the  argument,  resting  as  it  does  upon  the 
mere  fact  of  the  State  offices  being  vacant,  and  not 
depending  (as  indeed  it  could  not  depend  without 
judicial  convictions)  upon  the  misconduct  of  the 
individuals  who  are  de  facto  filling  them,  would 
be  equally  applicable  to  any  other  case  where,  by 
accident  or  from  necessity,  the  terms  of  all  the 
officers  of  a  State  had  expired,  and  no  constitu 
tional  elections  had  been  held  to  fill  the  vacancies. 


62  THE    FUTURE. 

Therefore  if  it  should  happen,  in  the  course  of  a 
Avar  between  our  country  and  a  foreign  power,  that 
one  of  the  States  should  be  invaded  by  an  enemy, 
who  should  hold  possession  of  the  invaded  territory 
for  a  period  extending  beyond  the  official  terms  of 
legislative  and  executive  officers,  superceding  the 
local  laws  meanwhile  by  martial  power,  it  would 
follow,  if  the  argument  which  I  am  considering  is 
sound,  that  upon  the  restoration  of  peace  the  State 
would  present  a  tabula  rasa  upon  which  Congress 
might  write  the  laws.  And  by  a  parity  of  reason 
ing,  if  the  invasion  should  extend  so  far,  and  con 
tinue  so  long,  that  it  should  be  impossible  to  obtain 
a  quorum  in  the  national  Senate,  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  and  the  Electoral  College,  of  members 
duly  elected  from  the  different  States,  the  whole 
Government  would  be  dissolved,  the  whole  nation 
would  become  a  tabula  rasa,  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  having  ceased  to  possess  any  govern 
ment  whatever,  further  resistance  to  the  invader 
would  become  the  irregular  act  of  an  unorganized 
community,  and  therefore  no  lawful  warfare.  I  am 
unable  to  see  why  the  argument  of  a  "  tabula  rasa," 
in  consequence  of  vacancies  in  the  public  offices, 
does  not  lead  to  both  of  these  conclusions,  and 
many  others  of  equal  absurdity,  with  which  I  will 
not  take  up  the  time  of  the  reader.  The  result  is 
instructive,  as  showing  into  what  quagmires  of  poli 
tical  doctrine  men  fall  when  they  are  no  longer 


THE    FUTURE.  63 

content  "  stare  super  antiqnas  vias,"  to  cling  to  the 
old  established  doctrine  of  the  limitation  of  the 
powers  of  the  general  Government  and  the  inviola 
ble  sovereignty  of  the  States. 

It  has  also  been  said,  that  even  if  a  State  cannot 
theoretically  forfeit  any  of  its  constitutional  rights, 
yet  that  the  general  Government,  after  the  rebellion 
is  subdued,  will  be  practically  left  free  to  accom 
plish  such  reforms  in  its  Constitution  as  may  be 
deemed  advisable,  because  the  whole  community 
having  committed  treason,  there  will  be  no  citizens, 
at  least  not  enough  to  be  worth  regarding,  who  can 
insist  upon  a  strict  fulfilment  of  constitutional  obli 
gations  ;  that  the  constitutional  rights  will  therefore 
remain  in  abeyance  for  the  want  of  the  individuals 
to  assert  and  exercise  them  ;  that  Congress  can 
provide  by  law  for  the  exclusion  of  traitors  from 
the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise ;  and  that  be 
fore  the  population  which  has  committed  no  offence 
against  the  laws,  will  increase  sufficiently  to  entitle 
it  to  resume  the  functions  of  self-government,  the 
institutions  of  the  State  may  be  permanently  mod 
elled  as  may  be  desired.  But  a  careful  considera 
tion  of  the  subject  will  show  that  however  plausible 
such  a  theory  may  appear,  a  palpable  violation  of 
the  Constitution  by  Congress  can  alone  reduce  it  to 
practical  operation. 

Among  the  various  modes  of  exercise  of  legisla 
tive  power  none  is  more  unequivocally  condemned 


(54  THE    FUTURE. 

by  the  Constitution  than  that  of  passing  acts  of 
'attainder,  which  was,  till  comparatively  recently, 
the  practice  of  the  English  Parliament,  and  the  use 
of  which  disgraced  even  our  own  legislatures  during 
the  Revolution.  Judge  Rawle,  in  his  treatise  on 
the  Constitution  (p.  119)  defines  a  bill  of  attainder 
as  one  "by  which  a  person  without  judicial  trial  is 
declared  by  the  legislature  to  be  guilty  of  some  par 
ticular  crime ;"  and  he  adds,  that  "  the  definition 
itself  shows  the  atrocity  of  the  act."  Judge  Story, 
in  his  treatise,  says,  that  such  an  exercise  of  power 
in  a  free  government  would  be  intolerable ;  and 
the  most  eminent  modern  jurists  and  publicists  of 
all  nations  have  condemned  it.  Accordingly,  the 
Constitution,  in  its  restraints  upon  the  power  of 
Congress,  says  explicitly — "  No  MIL  of  attainder 
shall  be  passed  ;"  and  it  secures  the  citizen,  by  two 
separate  and  distinct  provisions,  against  any  pun 
ishment  for  crime,  except  upon  conviction  by  a  jury 
of  the  State  where  the  crime  shall  be  alleged  to 
have  been  committed.  So  long  as  the  Constitution  is 
recognized  as  subsisting,  it  will  therefore  be  impos 
sible  to  declare  any  of  the  citizens  of  the  southern 
States  guilty  of  treason  by  act  of  the  Federal  legis 
lature,  or  in  any  other  way  than  in  pursuance  of  the 
sentence  of  a  regular  judicial  tribunal,  and  the 
verdict  of  a  jury  taken  from  the  State  in  which  the 
treason  was  committed.  I  doubt  not  that  it  will 
be  practicable  so  to  legislate  as  to  procure  a  jury 


THE    FUTURE.  35 

which  will  convict  of  treason  in  isolated  cases,  bi:t 
I  think  that  I  need  not  spend  any  time  in  demon 
strating  the  impracticability  of  indicting  and  con 
victing  of  treason  the  people  of  a  whole  State,  or  a 
sufficient  number  of  them  to  make  any  appreciable 
difference  in  the  number  of  those  who  will  wield 
the  political  power  of  the  State.  ISTor  can  the  same 
result  be  accomplished  indirectly  by  a  test  oath. 
The  Constitution  confers  no  power  upon  Congress, 
either  expressly  or  by  implication,  to  prescribe  the 
qualifications  of  electors  for  members  of  the  national 
House  of  Representatives,  much  less  for  members 
of  the  State  legislature,  or  any  of  the  State  offices. 
On  the  contrary,  those  matters  are  expressly  and 
exclusively  left  to  State  legislation.  So  palpable 
is  the  want  of  power  in  Congress  to  overthrow 
State  power  in  the  South  by  prescribing  the  quali 
fications  of  voters,  that  the  author  of  "  Our  Domes 
tic  Relations  "  concedes  the  impossibility  of  effect 
ing  his  cherished  scheme  by  any  such  means. 

It  has  also  been  argued  that  inasmuch  as  the 
southern  people  have  been  recognized  as  belliger 
ents,  not  only  by  foreign  powers  but  by  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  and  our  legislative,  executive 
and  military  authorities  have  dealt  with  them,  in 
all  respects,  as  if  we  were  waging  a  foreign  war,  we 
shall  enjoy  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war  all  the 
rights  of  conquerors,  including  the  right  of  reor 
ganizing  the  southern  territory  as  we  shall  think 


QQ  THE    FUTURE. 

proper.  But  the  answer  to  tins  suggestion  is  that 
•we  have  never  treated  our  war  as  a  foreign  war, 
but  as  a  civil  war  merely ;  and  that  the  belligerent 
rights  which  we  have  assumed,  and  the  belligerent 
liabilities  to  which  we  have  held  the  insurgents, 
were  imposed  by  us  partly  to  mitigate  the  horrors 
of  the  war,  by  subjecting  its  operations  to  the  rules 
of  civilized  warfare,  and  partly  for  our  own  con 
venience,  and  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  our  mili 
tary  operations.  The  necessity  and  convenience 
which  led  us  to  treat  our  adversaries  as  bellige 
rents,  did  not  at  all  depend  upon  the  fact  that  the 
State  governments  profess  to  be  actors  in  the  war, 
but  they  arose  solely  from  the  magnitude  of  the 
scale  upon  which  the  war  was  waged.  The  result 
would  have  been  the  same  if  the  State  govern 
ments  had  been  overpowered  by  the  insurgents  at 
the  outset  of  the  rebellion,  and  if  the  latter  had 
attempted  to  obliterate  the  States  entirely,  and  to 
set  up  an  imperial  government,  embracing  the 
whole  insurgent  territory,  instead  of  a  union  of  con 
federate  republics  similar  to  our  own.  And  as  we 
still  profess  that  the  restoration  of  the  Union  is  the 
object  for  which  we  are  fighting,  the  assumption  of 
belligerent  relations  between  us  and  the  rebels  is 
necessarily  temporary  only,  and  must  be  abandoned 
when  the  war  results  in  the  accomplishment  of  that 
object.  This  is,  in  fact,  confessed  by  the  confisca 
tion  and  penal  laws,  and  the  avowed  purpose  of  the 


THE    FUTURE.  07 

administration  party  to  punish  the  leaders  of  the 
rebellion  for  treason,  if  the  fortune  of  the  war  shall 
place  them  in  our  power.  I  find  the  principles  to 
which  the  decision  in  the  prize  cases  leads,  so  ably 
defended  in  another  recent  decision,  from  the  revo 
lutionary  imputation  which  it  is  attempted  to  put 
upon  them,  that  I  copy  a  portion  of  the  latter.  It 
is  from  the  opinion  of  Judge  Sprague,  of  the  United 
States  District  Court,  pronounced  at  Boston  in 
April,  1862,  in  the  case  of  the  "  Amy  Warwick." 
He  says : 

"  An  objection  to  the  prize  decisions  of  the 
district  courts  has  arisen  from  an  apprehension  of 
radical  consequences.  It  has  been  supposed  that  if 
the  Government  has  the  rights  of  a  belligerent,  then, 
after  the  rebellion  is  suppressed,  it  will  have  the 
rights  of  conquest :  that  a  State  and  its  inhabitants 
may  be  permanently  divested  of  all  political  privi 
leges,  and  treated  as  a  foreign  territory  acquired  by 
arms.  This  is  an  error — a  grave  and  dangerous 
error. 

"  Conquest  of  a  foreign  country  gives  absolute 
and  unlimited  sovereign  rights.  But  no  nation 
ever  makes  such  a  conquest  of  its  own  territory. 
If  a  hostile  power,  either  from  within  or  without  a 
nation,  takes  possession  and  holds  absolute  dominion 
over  any  portion  of  its  territory,  and  the  nation  by 
force  of  arms  expels  or  overthows  the  enemy  and 
suppresses  hostilities,  it  acquires  no  new  title,  but 


68  THE    FUTURE. 

merely  regains  the  possession  of  which  it  had  been 
temporarily  deprived.  The  nation  acquires  no  new 
sovereignty,  but  merely  maintains  its  previous 
rights.  .  .  .  Under  our  Government,  the  right 
of  sovereignty  over  any  portion  of  a  State  is  given 
and  limited  by  the  Constitution,  and  will  be  the 
same  after  the  war  as  it  was  before.  When  the 
United  States  take  possession  of  any  rebel  district, 
they  acquire  no  new  title,  but  merely  vindicate  that 
which  previously  existed,  and  are  only  to  do  what 
is  necessary  for  that  purpose.  Confiscations  of 
property  ....  are  primitive,  and  punishments 
should  be  inflicted  only  upon  proof  of  personal 
guilt.  What  offences  should  be  created  and  what 
penalties  affixed,  must  be  'left  to  the  justice  and 
wisdom  of  Congress  within  the  limits  prescribed  by 
the  Constitution.  Such  penal  enactments  have  no 
connection  whatever  with  the  decisions  of  prize 
courts  enforcing  belligerent  rights  upon  property 
captured  at  sea  during  the  war." 

I  have  thus  adverted,  I  believe,  to  all  the  theories 
by  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  show  that  the 
southern  States  have  surrendered,  abdicated,  or 
forfeited,  their  political  rights,  in  consequence  of 
the  war  which  has  been  carried  on  in  their  name. 
That  they  are  so  numerous,  so  dependent  upon 
metaphysical  subtleties,  so  conducive  to  political 
disorganization,  and  in  many  instances  so  discord 
ant  with  each  other,  is,  to  say  the  least,  strong 


THE    FUTURE.  69 

primd  facie  evidence  that  they  have  their  origin  in 
a  lust  of  power,  or  in  the  real  or  fancied  necessities 
of  a  faction,  rather  than  in  a  calm  and  disinterested 
search  after  the  truth. 

The  importance  of  the  subject  will,  I  hope,  be  a 
sufficient  excuse  for  my  adding  to  this  discussion, 
already  too  much  prolonged,  a  few  observations 
which  are  applicable  to  each  of  the  theories  which 
I  have,  thus  separately  considered.  They  relate  to 
the  origin  and  structure  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  itself,  and  their  general  design  is  to  show  that 
even  if  it  was  a  constitutional  possibility  for  a  State 
to  forfeit  or  abdicate  its  reserved  rights,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  misconduct  of  the  persons  tempora 
rily  administering  its  government,  the  Federal 
Government  is  not  the  authority  to  which  such  for 
feiture  would  enure. 

In  constitutional  monarchies,  even  in  liberally 
governed  Great  Britain,  the  constitutional  rights  of 
the  subject  are  so  many  encroachments  upon  the 
prerogative  of  the  crown,  which  is  theoretically  the 
source  from  which  the  liberties  of  the  people  are 
derived,  and  the  ultimate  depository  of  all  power 
not  delegated  to  the  representatives  of  the  nation. 
If,  therefore,  any  portion  of  the  people  of  such  a 
country  should  rise  in  rebellion  against  the  rightful 
powers  of  the  sovereign,  there  might  be  some  foun 
dation  for  an  argument  that  by  their  rebellion  they 
had  forfeited  their  own  constitutional  righte.  After 


70  THE    FUTURE. 

it  was  subdued,  the  sovereign  power  might  perhaps 
legally  declare  the  occurrence  of  such  a  forfeiture, 
and  in  that  case,  as  the  forfeited  rights  would  at 
once  revert  to  the  source  from  which  they  were 
derived,  the  sovereign  would  to  that  extent  be 
liberated  from  constitutional  restraints  in  the  exer 
cise  of  power  over  the  offenders  and  over  their  ter 
ritory.  But  the  same  reason  does  not  apply  to  a 
similar  case  arising  in  this  country,  because  the 
process  by  which  the  existing  relations  between  the 
States  and  the  people  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Federal  Government  on  the  other,  were  created, 
was  exactly  the  reverse  of  that  by  which  the  rela 
tions  between  the  sovereign  and  the  people  have 
oeen  created  in  constitutional  monarchies.  Instead 
of  the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  the  people  origi 
nating  in  grants  from  the  general  Government,  they 
were  derived  from  a  successful  rebellion  against  the 
British  crown,  and  the  general  Government  was 
created  by  them,  for  their  own  convenience,  safety, 
and  prosperity,  and  all  its  powers  depend  upon 
affirmative  grants  made  by  them.  And  instead  of 
the  general  Government  being  the  ultimate  deposi 
tory  of  all  power  not  delegated  to  the  States  and  the 
people,  its  powers  are  specifically  enumerated,  and 
the  States  and  the  people  are  expressly  made  the  ulti 
mate  depositories  of  all  other  powers.  There  is, 
therefore,  a  complete  failure  of  all  analogy  between 
the  relations  which  the  general  Government  will 


THE    FUTURE.  71 

oear  to  the  southern  States  after  the  suppression  of 
the  rebellion  and  those  which  would  exist  between  a 
victorious  sovereign  and  discomfited  rebels.  There 
are,  indeed,  certain  privileges  and  rights  which  are 
the  creatures  of  the  Constitution,  and  dependent 
exclusively  upon  it,  and  which  a  State  or  a  people 
may  therefore  forfeit  by  its  own  misconduct.  But 
these  are  merely  the  benefits  of  the  Union  /  and  the 
only  method  of  enforcing  their  forfeiture,  is  to  allow 
the  State  which  seeks  to  secede  to  "  depart  in  peace." 
It  is  also  evident  that  the  constitutional  limita 
tions  and  expansions  of  Federal  and  State  powers 
are  graduated  in  accordance  with  the  general 
interest,  as  well  as  the  interest  of  the  particular 
State.  They  therefore  exist  for  the  benefit  of  all  as 
well  as  of  each  particular  member  of  the  Union. 
For  instance,  one  State  cannot  constitutionally 
establish  a  monarchy,  even  if  Congress,  her  autho 
rities,  and  a  majority  of  her  inhabitants  should 
agree  to  waive  the  constitutional  requirement  that 
her  form  of  government  should  be  republican, 
because  the  existence  of  the  monarchical  form  of 
government  within  any  part  of  the  territory  of  the 
Union  is  prohibited,  not  for  the  benefit  of  a  par 
ticular  State,  but  as  being  prejudicial  to  the  inter 
ests  of  all.*  For  the  same  reason,  a  State  cannot 

*  "  The  more  intimate  the  nature  of  such  an  Union  may 
be,  the  greater  interest  have  the  members  in  the  political 


72  THE    FUTURE. 

even  with  the  consent  of  Congress  and  a  majority 
of  her  citizens,  voluntarily  surrender  to  the  Federal 
Government  any  one  of  her  constitutional  rights. 
How,  then,  can  she  be  deprived  for  any  miscon 
duct  of  her  authorities,  or  even  of  her  citizens,  of 
rights  which  she  cannot  voluntarily  cede  ?  It  is 
the  right  and  interest  of  all  the  States  that  their 
common  Government  shall  not,  anywhere  in  the 
Union,  exercise  any  other  jurisdiction  than  such  as 
the  Constitution  has  confided  to  it.  Citizens  of 
ISTew  York,  Ohio  or  Pennsylvania  would  be  injured 
by  an  expansion  of  Federal  jurisdiction  in  South 
Carolina,  Georgia  or  Alabama,  for  many  reasons, 
which  may  be  briefly  comprehended  in  the  general 
expression  that  the  whole  balance  of  our  political 
system  would  be  disturbed  thereby.  We  have, 
therefore,  a  right,  for  our  own  sakes,  to  insist  that 
the  constitutional  balance  of  power  shall  remain  in 
all  respects  intact  throughout  the  whole  territory 
of  the  nation,  and  that  it  shall  not  be  disturbed  by 
the  central  Government  drawing  to  itself  powers 
and  functions  which  our  forefathers  for  wise  reasons 
denied  to  it.  This  is  a  right  of  which  we  cannot  be 

institutions  of  each  other,  and  the  greater  right  to  insist 
that  the  forms  of  government  under  which  the  compact 
was  entered  into,  should  be  substantially  maintained.  .  . 
'  Greece  was  undone/  says  Montesquieu,  '  as  soon  as  the 
kinjr  of  Macedon  obtained  a  seat  among  the  Amphyctioiis.' " 
—  The  Federalist,  No.  43. 


THE    FUTURE.  73 

deprived  by  any  action  of  Congress,  because  that 
body  has  not  been  vested  with  power  to  give  our 
consent  to  any  such  modification  of  the  relations 
between  the  Federal  Government  and  the  people 
of  any  State.  Such  modifications  can  only  be  made 
by  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  in  the  man 
ner  provided  for  that  purpose  in  the  instrument 
itself. 

THE  FUTURE  to  which  the  nation  stands  committed 
by  the  instrument  which  alone  legalizes  the  war,  is 
therefore  the  restoration  of  the  States  and  the  peo 
ple  of  the  South  to  their  former  position  in  the 
Union,  and  that  the  former  political  rights  and 
privileges  of  all  the  individuals  within  the  seceded 
States  shall  remain  intact,  except  so  far  as  they  may 
be  affected  through  the  regular  operation  of  the 
ordinary  courts  of  justice.  I  will  now  consider 
the  manner  in  which  we  reaffirmed  that  pledge,  and 
the  circumstances  which  attended  its  reaffirmation. 


74  TIIE  FUTURE. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

The  Theory  upon  which  we  entered  into  the  War — The  Assurances 
respecting  its  Object  and  Termination  which  were  given  to  For- 
ei°-n  Nations — The  Adoption  of  the  Crittenden  Resolution — Its 
Obligatory  Character  as  a  National  Fledge. 

WHEN  this  war  broke  out,  it  is  not  probable  that 
one  in  fifty  of  the  American  people  would  have 
hesitated  to  announce  his  perfect  concurrence  in  all 
the  sentiments  expressed  in  the  two  preceding  chap 
ters,  and  to  ridicule  the  idea  that  the  war  would 
result  in  the  slightest  interference  with  the  consti 
tutional  sovereignty  of  the  southern  States  and  the 
political  independence  of  the  southern  people. 

The  Administration  and  its  party,  and  a  very 
large  number  of  the  opposition,  were  firmly  per 
suaded  that  outside  of  South  Carolina,  the  condi 
tion  of  the  South  in  1861  was  very  similar  to  the 
condition  of  England  in  1688.  It  was  well  known 
that  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  southern 
people  did  not  consider  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  a 
sufficient  cause  for  secession :  that  in  every  State 
except  Soutli  Carolina,  the  Union  party  was  not 
overpowered  without  a  severe  struggle :  that  in 
several  of  the  States  a  majority  of  the  delegates  to 


THE    FUTUKE.  75 

the  convention  were  elected  as  unionists  :  that  in 
one  of  them  the  ordinance  of  secession  was  rejected 
by  the  people  and  then  subsequently  adopted  by 
the  convention  :  and  that  of  the  four  border  States 
which  seceded  after  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  in 
only  two  was  the  ordinance  submitted  to  the  peo 
ple.  In  those  two  (Tennessee  and  Virginia)  the 
State  authorities  had,  in  advance  of  the  popular 
vote,  assumed  to  form  an  alliance  with  the  South 
ern  Confederacy,  introduced  the  armies  of  the  lat 
ter  into  the  territory  of  the  State,  and  raised  large 
forces  of  State  troops  for  the  confederate  side  of  the 
war.  Hence,  although  in  Tennessee  there  was  a 
majority  of  57,675,  and  in  Virginia  a  majority  of 
105,577  in  favor  of  secession,  it  was  argued  that 
there  had  been  no  fair  election,  and  that  the  ex 
pression  of  the  popular  will  had  been  prevented  in 
those  States  by  the  presence  of  the  confederate  sol 
diery,  as  it  had  been  in  other  States  by  the  treach 
ery,  timidity  or  venality  of  the  members  of  the  con 
ventions. 

The  bulk  of  the  northern  people  firmly  believed 
that  throughout  the  whole  South  a  system  of 
bribery  and  threats  had  been  employed  upon-  the 
members  of  the  State  conventions  by  desperate 
men,  eager  to  convulse  the  country  with  civil  war, 
in  order  to  realize  their  own  schemes  of  power  and 
dominion  ;  and  that  by  such  means  the  conven 
tions  had  been  induced  to  adopt  the  ordinance  of 


76  1HE    FUTURE. 

secession    contrary   to    the   known  wishes   of    the 
people. 

It  was  also  believed  that  the  executive  and  legis 
lative  departments  of  the  southern  States  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  unprincipled  men,  who,  having 
obtained  power,  partly  by  misrepresentations  of 
their  own  intentions,  and  partly  by  artful  appeals 
to  the  prejudices,  passions  and  interests  of  their 
constituents,  had  first  abused  the  confidence  and  out 
raged  the  loyalty  of  their  people  by  assuming  with 
the  assistance  of  the  conventions,  to  precipitate  the 
States  into  rebellion,  and  had  then  suppressed  the 
indignant  and  active  repudiation  of  their  conduct 
on  the  part  of  their  betrayed  constituents,  which 
would  otherwise  have  followed,  by  crushing  the 
whole  country  under  the  iron  heel  of  a  military 
despotism.  Hence  it  was  said  that  in  every  ham 
let  of  the  South,  aching  hearts  were  looking  eagerly 
for  that  army  of  northern  deliverers  which  was  to 
rescue  the  people  from  a  hated  bondage  ;  and  that 
as  soon  as  the  national  flag  should  be  displayed, 
supported  by  a  sufficient  force  to  form  the  nucleus 
of  an  organization,  hundreds  and  thousands  of  fight 
ing-men  of  the  soil  would  array  themselves  under 
the  protection  of  its  folds,  break  the  military  power 
of  their  oppressors,  inflict  condign  punishment  upon 
the  leading  traitors,  and  bring  the  great  body  of 
their  deluded  followers  back  to  their  allegiance,  by 
exposing  the  frauds  and  deceptions  by  which  the 


THE    FUTURE.  77 

latter  had  been  seduced  into  the  infamy  and  folly 
of  rebellion. 

My  readers'  recollection  will  bear  me  out,  I  think, 
in  this  statement  of  the  opinions  and  expectations 
of  the  northern  people,  without  incumbering  these 
pages  with  extracts  from  speeches,  newspapers  and 
public  documents.  I  shall  content  myself  with  a 
short  quotation  from  one  document,  which,  from 
the  exalted  position  of  its  author,  and  the  gravity 
of  the  occasion  which  called  it  forth,  merits  a  pecu 
liar  distinction.  It  is  from  the  message  of  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  to  the  extra  session  of  the  thirty- 
seventh  Congress,  held  in  July,  1861.  Considering 
the  caution  with  which  a  document  of  this  kind 
would  naturally  be  framed,  the  extract  which  fol 
lows  may  be  regarded  as  an  epitome  of  all  the 
hopes,  expectations,  opinions  and  theories  which  I 
have  stated  more  in  detail : 

"  It  may  be  well  questioned  whether  there  is  to 
day  a  majority  of  the  legally  qualified  voters  of  any 
State,  except  perhaps  South  Carolina,  in  favor  of 
disunion.  There  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Union  men  are  the  majority  in  many,  if  not  in 
every  other  one  of  the  so-called  seceded  States. 
The  contrary  has  not  been  demonstrated  in  any  one 
of  them.  It  is  ventured  to  affirm  this  even  of  Vir 
ginia  and  Tennessee  ;  for  the  result  of  an  election 
held  in  military  camps,  where  the  bayonets  are  all 
on  one  side  of  the  question  to  be  voted  upon,  can 


Yg  THE    FUTURE. 

scarcely  be  considered  as  demonstrating  popular 
sentiment.  At  such  an  election,  all  that  large  class 
who  are  at  once  for  the  Union  and  against  coercion, 
would  be  coerced  to  vote  against  the  Union." 

Such  a  theory  affords  a  full  explanation  of  the 
conduct  of  the  Administration  which  has  been  the 
subject  of  so  much  criticism  in  calling  out  seventy- 
five  thousand  men  to  serve  three  months,  notwith 
standing  General  Scott's  opinion  that  the  conquest 
of  such  a  country  as  the  South  would  require  two 
years  and  two  hundred  thousand  men.  For  it  was 
not  a  war  of  conquest  upon  which  the  nation  was 
bent,  but  a  war  of  deliverance  of  oppressed  millions, 
who  wanted  only  a  fulcrum  to  enable  them  to  move 
themselves  the  mighty  lever  by  which  the  usurpers 
would  be  overthrown. 

Of  course,  under  such  circumstances,  it  would 
have  been  idle  to  suggest  that  the  war  could,  in  any 
contingency,  result  in  a  change  of  the  relations 
between  the  general  Government  and  the  people  of 
the  South,  or  the  injury  of  any  of  the  citizens  of 
the  southern  States,  except  those  who  might  fall 
in  battle,  and  the  few  leaders  of  whom  even  such  a 
mild  and  lenient  Government  as  ours,  might  find  it 
necessary  to  make  an  example. 

If  the  suggestion  of  such  a  result  was  made  by 
any  doubter  in  our  own  midst,  it  was  considered  as 
an  indication  of  the  weakness  of  his  intellect  or  the 
depravity  of  his  morals,  and  he  was  accordingly 


THE    FUTURE.  79 

either  ridiculed  or  denounced  as  a  sympathizer  with 
the  enemy.  But  it  was  apprehended  that  foreign 
nations  might  not  so  readily  discover  the  consist 
ency  between  the  absolute  political  freedom  of  the 
citizen  and  the  reestablishment  of  the  Government 
by  the  bayonet,  which  this  theory  involved,  and 
hence,  at  the  very  outset  of  the  troubles,  care  was 
taken  to  set  them  right  in  that  respect. 

Before  the  actual  collision  of  arms,  and  during 
the  anxious  days  which  elapsed  between  the  sailing 
of  the  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter  and 
the  attack  upon  that  fortress,  the  Secretary  of  State 
gave  the  necessary  instructions  to  Mr.  Adams  for  the 
information  of  the  English  Government.  I  copy 
from  his  dispatch  of  April  10,  1861. 

"  He  (the  President)  would  not  be  disposed  to 
reject  a  cardinal  dogma  of  theirs  (the  southern 
States),  namely,  that  the  Federal  Government  could 
not  reduce  the  seceding  States  to  obedience  by  con 
quest,  even  although  he  was  disposed  to  question 
that  proposition.  But,  in  fact,  the  President  wil 
lingly  accepts  it  as  true.  Only  an  imperial  or  des 
potic  government  could  subjugate  thoroughly  dis 
affected  and  insurrectionary  members  of  the  State. 
This  federal  republican  system  of  ours  is  of  all 
forms  of  government  the  very  one  which  is  most 
unfitted  for  such  a  labor." 

Equal  care  was  taken  to  prevent  the  French 
court  from  misapprehending  the  character  and 


80  THE    FUTURE. 

extent  of  the  rebellion,  or  the  work  which  the 
seventy-five  thousand  men  were  expected  to  do. 
Immediately  after  the  call  for  troops  the  Secretary 
wrote  to  Mr.  Dayton  a  dispatch,  dated  April  22, 
1861,  from  which  I  make  the  following  extract : 

"  There  is  not  even  a  pretext  for  the  complaint 
that  the  disaffected  States  are  to  be  conquered  by 
the  United  States  if  the  revolution  fails;  for  the 
rights  of  the  States,  and  the  condition  of  every  hu 
man  being  in  them,  will  remain  subject  to  exactly  the 
same  laws  and  forms  of  administration,  whether  the 
revolution  shall  succeed  or  whether  it  shall  fail. 
Tn  the  one  case,  the  States  would  be  federally  con 
nected  with  the  new  Confederacy;  in  the  other, 
they  would,  as  now,  be  members  of  the  United 
States;  but  their  constitutions  and  laws,  customs, 
habits,  and  institutions  in  either  case  will  remain 
the  same." 

The  battle  of  Bull  Run  gave  a  rude  shock  to  the 
theory  under  which  the  war  had  been  prosecuted 
up  to  that  time  ;  but  it  took  not  only  weeks  but 
months  to  shake  the  faith  of  the  northern  people 
in  their  favorite  theory,  that  the  mass  of  the  people 
of  the  South  were  at  heart  pining  for  deliverance 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  Confederate  Government ; 
and  in  fact  there  are  many  among  us  who  have  not 
yet  abandoned  that  idea.  It  became  very  apparent 
however  that  the  task  before  us  was  much  more 
serious  than  had  been  at  first  supposed,  and  that  it 


THE    FUTURE.  81 

was  indispensable  to  our  success  that  the  whole 
strength  of  the  North  should  be  united  in  moral  and 
material  support  of  the  Government.  Nor  was  any 
considerable  number,  either  of  the  people  or  of 
their  representatives,  prepared  at  that  time  to  sus 
tain  any  policy  looking  to  the  overthrow  of  politi 
cal  institutions  which  they  had  been  taught  from 
childhood  to  regard  as  the  very  corner  stone  of  the 
edifice  of  public  liberty.  Under  such  circumstances 
Mr.  Crittenden  had  no  difficulty  in  procuring  a 
nearly  unanimous  vote  upon  the  celebrated  resolu 
tion  which  bears  his  name,  which  was  introduced 
by  him  into  the  House  of  Representatives  a  few 
days  before  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  passed  on 
the  day  after  that  battle,  the  22d  July,  1861.  It 
reads  as  follows : 

"  Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  That  the  present 
civil  war  has  been  forced  upon  the  country  by  the 
disunionists  of  the  southern  States,  now  in  arms 
against  the  constitutional  Government,  and  in  arms 
around  the  capital :  that  in  this  national  emergency 
Congress,  banishing  all  feelings  of  mere  passion  or 
resentment,  will  recollect  only  its  duty  to  the  whole 
country  :  that  this  war  is  not  waged  on  their  part 
in  any  spirit  of  oppression,  or  for  any  purpose  of 
conquest  or  subjugation,  or  purpose  of  overthrow 
ing  or  interfering  with  the  rights  or  established 

institutions  of  those  States,  but  to  defend  and  main- 

4* 


82  THE    FUTURE. 

tain  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution  ana  to  pre 
serve  the  Union,  with  all  the  dignity,  equality  and 
rights  of  the  several  States  unimpaired,  and  that 
as  soon  those  objects  are  accomplished  the  war  ought 
to  cease." 

This  resolution  was  passed  in  the  House  by  a 
vote  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  ayes  and  two 
nays  (Messrs.  Riddle,  of  Ohio,  and  Potter,  of  Wis 
consin,  both  republicans).  A  resolution  in  the 
same  language  was  introduced  into  the  Senate  on 
the  twenty-fourth  of  the  same  month  by  Mr. 
Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  and  after  a  few 
verbal  alterations  of  no  material  consequence, 
passed  by  a  vote  of  thirty  yeas  to  five  nays  (Messrs. 
Breckinridge,  secession  democrat,  of  Kentucky; 
Johnson,  democrat,  of  Missouri;  Polk,  secession 
democrat,  of  Missouri ;  Powell,  democrat,  of  Ken 
tucky  ;  and  Truinbull,  republican,  of  Illinois). 
Among  the  ayes  in  each  House,  are  to  be  found  men 
of  all  shades  of  political  opinion,  and  from  all  the 
sections  of  the  country  which  then  adhered  to  the 
Union.  So  anxious  did  all  parties  seem  to  be  to 
place  the  nation  upon  the  platform  of  principle 
which  the  resolution  laid  down,  that  notwithstand 
ing  the  first  part  of  the  resolution  was  deemed  offen 
sive  and  objectionable  by  some  of  the  democratic 
members,  because  it  failed  to  include  abolitionists 
and  others  of  the  North,  in  pointing  out  the  origi 
nators  of  the  war,  and  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was 


THE    FUTURE.  83 

made  to  amend  it  accordingly,  it  commanded  the 
votes  of  the  extreme  democrats  of  the  slaveholding 
States,  as  well  as  the  ultra-republicans,  with  the 
exceptions  which  I  have  named.  And  all  of  those 
who  voted  nay,  in  the  Senate,  except  Mr.  Johnson, 
explained  their  dissent  as  resting  upon  some- objec 
tion  to  the  phraseology  of  the  resolution ;  so  that 
there  was  no  member  of  either  House,  except  pos 
sibly  Messrs.  Potter  and  Riddle,  who  can  be  sup 
posed  to  have  dissented  from  the  principles  laid 
down  in  the  resolution,  as  the  only  object  for  which 
the  war  could  rightfully  be  prosecuted. 

Thus  did  the  people  of  the  North,  standing  just 
within  the  threshold  of  this  great  convulsion,  an 
nounce,  through  their  chosen  representatives,  their 
unanimous  adhesion  to  the  political  and  constitu 
tional  principles  which  I  have  attempted  to  defend. 
The  minds  of  the  nation,  differing  upon  almost  every 
question  of  administrative  policy,  differing  upon  the 
meaning  and  effect  of  nearly  every  one  of  the  prin 
cipal  clauses  of  the  Constitution,  by  which  the 
details  of  our  scheme  of  government  were  provided 
for,  nevertheless  met  upon  one  common  ground  in 
reaffirming  distinctly  the  two  grand  principles 
which  form  the  framework  of  the  system.  These 
are  a  strict  adJierence  ~by  the  general  Government, 
under  all  contingencies,  to  the  limitations  of  powers 
which  the  Constitution  has  prescribed,  and  the  invio 
lability  upon  any  pretext  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the 


84  THE    FUTURE. 

States.  I  cannot  regard  this  unanimous  decision  in 
any  other  light  than  as  a  final  settlement  of  the 
questions  which  I  have  been  discussing.  The 
theories  of  State  treason,  State  forfeiture,  State 
abdication,  State  suicide,  rights  acquired  by  con 
quest,  "  tabula  rasa,"  and  congressional  disfranchise- 
ment,  all  assume  that  the  nation  was  in  error  when 
it  adopted  the  Crittenden  resolution  as  its  declara 
tion  of  principles,  and  that  it  has  grown  wiser  by 
the  lapse  of  time.  But  will  it  be  pretended  that 
the  course  of  events  since  July,  1861,  has  been  such 
as  to  justify  men  in  deliberately  discarding  theories 
of  political  science  and  constitutional  law,  which 
more  than  eighty  years  of  discussion  and  practical 
experience  had  impressed  upon  their  minds,  as  the 
axiomatic  rudiments  of  the  science  of  republican, 
government?  Have  the  times  been  favorable  to 
a  calm  review  of  our  former  political  tenets,  and  to 
a  discovery  and  correction  of  such  of  them  as  were 
erroneous  ?  1  assume  that  they  have  not,  and  of 
experience  we  have  as  yet  had  nothing,  for  while 
I  write,  the  storm  is  yet  raging  in  every  quarter  of 
the  horizon,  and  the  eye  is  strained  in  vain  to  dis 
cover  the  speck  of  blue  sky  which  foretells  the 
clearing.  For  these  reasons  I  have  not  doubted 
that  the  new  theories  which  I  have  been  considering, 
however  honestly  entertained  by  many,  were  the 
products  of  the  prejudice  and  passion  excited  by 
the  civil  war,  cr,  what  is  worse,  the  result  of  the 


THE    FUTURE.  85 

selfish  teachings  of  those  who  fear  the  loss  of  politi 
cal  power  from  the  restoration  of  the  Union  of 
equal  rights  which  formerly  existed.  To  adopt 
those  theories  and  to  make  them  the  basis  of  the 
future  of  the  nation,  will  be  to  enter  upon  a  career 
of  never-ending  agitation,  by  substituting  a  forcible 
usurpation  in  place  of  that  lawful  and  constitutional 
Government,  which  alone  can  command  the  willing 
respect  and  obedience  of  the  people  of  both  sections, 
and  insure  the  ultimate  pacification  of  this  distracted 
country. 

But  the  Crittenden  resolution  is  something  more 
than  a  declaration  of  principles :  it  is  a  solemn 
pledge  for  the  future.  It  went  forth  to  the  nations 
of  Europe,  together  with  the  official  dispatches  of 
the  Secretary  of  State,  as  a  basis  for  the  regulation 
of  their  conduct,  in  the  course  of  a  war  so  deeply 
affecting  their  own  interests ;  and  it  undoubtedly 
had  a  powerful  influence  in  contributing  to  avert 
an  interference,  which  the  prospect  of  the  utter  ruin 
of  the  South,  by  an  attempt  to  reduce  its  citizens  to 
political  vassalage,  might  have  rendered  inevitable. 
It  went  forth  to  the  men  of  wealth  and  high  posi 
tion  in  our  own  land,  and  produced  among  them  a 
unanimity  of  all  parties  and  of  all  interests  to 
support  the  Government  in  the  great  crisis  which 
was  upon  it — nay,  a  competition  for  the  foremost 
place  in  tendering  assistance.  It  went  forth  to  the 
masses  of  the  people,  and  an  army  of  volunteers  at 


86  THE    FUTURE. 

once  rose  up  in  such  mighty  swarms,  that  the 
Government  itself  soon  cried  enough.  It  went  forth 
to  the  border  States,  which  were  yet  trembling  in 
the  balance,  and  enabled  the  noble  band  of  Union 
ists  in  those  States  to  decide  the  pending  contro 
versy  in  our  favor.  It  stands  now  upon  record  as 
the  solemn  covenant  of  the  nation  with  its  citizens, 
witli  its  enemy,  with  the  world.  Its  violation,  after 
we  have  acquired  the  object  to  attain  which  it  was 
given,  would  be  an  act  of  perfidy  which  would 
break  up  all  the  foundations  of  future  confidence  in 
the  nation's  plighted  word.  And  the  retribution 
which  would  follow,  would  be  swift  and  ample. 
But  of  that  hereafter. 

But  adherence  to  the  principles  of  our  national 
pledge  will  not  alone  suffice  to  restore  peace  and 
quiet  to  the  nation  when  the  storm  of  war  shall 
hare  passed  away.  In  fact,  its  violation,  the  per 
manent  usurpation  of  unconstitutional  powers  by 
the  national  Government,  and  the  destruction  of 
State  institutions  at  the  North  and  the  South,  are 
among  the  certain  events  of  the  future,  unless  the 
southern  people  can  be  inspired  with  affection  for 
the  Union,  and  a  willingness  to  cooperate  heartily 
with  the  national  authorities  in  the  work  of  admin 
istering  the  Government.  The  Crittenden  resolu 
tion  contemplates  as  the  end  of  the  war  the  res 
toration,  to  the  very  persons  who  are  now  engaged 
in  carrying  on  the  contest  under  the  confederate 


THE    FUTURE.  87 

flag,  of  the  political  rights  and  privileges  which 
they  formerly  enjoyed.  Their  armies  may  be  dis 
persed,  their  so-called  government  overthrown,  their 
leading  men  executed  or  exiled,  a  Federal  garrison 
stationed  in  every  fortress  and  in  every  city,  Federal 
gunboats  in  every  river  and  in  every  bay,  a  Federal 
custom-house,  defended  by  Federal  guards,  in  every 
seaport,  and  yet  the  whole  of  that  vast  political 
power  appertaining  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  State, 
will  still  be  as  completely  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
were  so  lately  in  arms  against  the  conquerors,  as 
the  same  power  in  the  State  of  New  York  is  now 
in  the  hands  of  our  citizens. 

I  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  examine  the 
practical  working  of  such  a  scheme  in  the  midst  of 
a  hostile  and  exasperated  people,  and  it  is  because 
a  persistence  in  the  policy  which  we  have  in  fact 
pursued,  can  result  in  nothing  but  to  produce  and 
keep  up  a  feeling  of  hostility  and  exasperation,  and 
not  by  reason  of  objections  to  their  legality,  that  I 
shall  condemn  the  leading  measures  which  make  up 
that  policy.  There  is  one  of  those  measures,  how 
ever,  which  is  open  to  graver  objections  than  those 
arising  out  of  considerations  of  mere  expediency. 
I  allude  to  the  emancipation  proclamation,  as  it 
is  generally  called,  the  lawfulness  and  effect  of 
which  I  shall  discuss  in  the  next  chapter. 


88  THE    FUTURE. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

The  Emancipation  Proclamation  as  a  War  Measure — Consideration 
of  the  Rights  of  a  Belligerent  over  the  Slaves  of  Citizens  of  an 
Invaded  Nation  regarding  them  as  Property— The  same  Rights 
regarding  them  as  occupying  a  Peculiar  Status  under  the  Local 
Law— The  Owner's  Rights  after  the  Restoration  of  Peace— Rea 
sons  why  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  exceeds  the  Rights  of 
a  Belligerent,  and  manifests  a  Revolutionary  Intention  on  the 
part  of  our  Government. 

IN  treating  of  the  emancipation  proclamation, 
(including  in  that  term  the  two  proclamations  of 
the  President,  dated  respectively  the  22d  of  Septem 
ber,  1862,  and  the  1st  of  January,  1863,)  I  shall 
not  deny  that  martial  law  sanctions  the  suspension, 
within  an  invaded  country,  of  the  relation  of  mas 
ter  and  slave,  by  the  military  edict  of  the  coni- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  invader's  armies,  or  in  fact 
of  any  general  having  a  separate  command.  And 
I  shall  also  concede  that  a  military  commander  can 
lawfully  remove  any  number  of  slaves  from  the  ter 
ritory  of  an  invaded  nation  whose  laws  sanction  the 
institution  of  slavery,  and  thus  enable  them  perma 
nently  to  acquire  their  freedom.  But  I  condemn 
the  emancipation  proclamation  as  going  far  beyond 
tho.se  limits,  and  manifesting  a  purpose  on  the  part 


THE    FUTURE.  89 

of  the  general  Government  to  overthrow  the  rights 
and  sovereignty  of  the  States,  and  to  inaugurate  a 
system  of  coercion  of  State  action,  revolutionary  and 
unlawful,  and  in  its  ultimate  effects  fatal  to  the 
permanent  pacification  of  the  country. 

This  measure  has  become  such  a  shibboleth  of 
party,  and  its  discussion,  even  in  grave  state  papers, 
and  official  and  semi-official  documents  and  speeches 
of  the  highest  functionaries,  has  involved  to  such 
an  extent  the  consideration  of  the  institution  of 
slavery  in  its  religious,  moral  and  politico-economi 
cal  aspects,  that  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  divest 
the  question  of  those  features  sufficiently  to  consider 
exclusively  its  lawfulness  as  a  military  measure  and 
the  line  of  policy  which  is  indicated  by  it.  Never 
theless  I  will  make  the  attempt  to  treat  it  in  that 
aspect,  asking  from  my  readers  no  other  admission 
respecting  the  institution  of  slavery  itself,  than  that 
the  Constitution  grants  to  the  Federal  Government 
no  right  whatever  to  interfere  with  it,  in  the  States 
where  it  exists,  and  that  consequently  its  abolition 
by  Federal  power,  if  lawful  at  all,  is  only  lawful  as 
an  exercise  of  the  war  power,  the  extent  and  nature 
of  which  are  not  defined  by  the  Constitution,  but 
are  left  to  be  gathered  from  the  general  rules  of 
international  law,  so  far  as  the  latter  are  applicable 
to  a  contest  of  this  nature.  Upon  this  common 
ground  I  can  meet  nine-tenths  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  the  President  included ;  the  remainder 


90  THE    FUTURE. 

belong  to  that  class  upon  wliom  argument  is 
wasted. 

Since  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the 
prize  cases,  it  may  be  deemed  settled  law  with  us, 
that  the  Government  may,  notwithstanding  its 
claim  of  sovereignty  over  the  insurgents  and  their 
territory  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution, 
exercise  in  the  course  of  the  war,  and  while  it  lasts, 
all  the  belligerent  rights  to  which  it  could  lay 
claim  in  case  of  a  war  between  it  and  a  foreign 
power  :  or  in  other  words  that  belligerent  rights  are 
temporarily  substituted  for  the  constitutional  rights 
which  the  war  is  waged  to  reestablish.  Therefore 
whenever  the  Government  lays  claim  to  exercise 
during  the  war  any  particular  power  not  conceded 
to  it  by  the  Constitution,  it  can  justify  itself  in  so 
doing,  provided  it  can  show  a  warrant  for  the  exer 
cise  of  that  power  in  the  rules  of  international  law 
touching  the  rights  of  belligerents. 

Those  rights  with  respect  to  property  real  and 
personal,  situated  in  a  country  invaded  and  occu 
pied  by  a  hostile  army,  are  now  well  settled  and  de 
fined.  So  far  as  they  relate  to  private  property  and 
to  the  present  subject,  they  are,  in  general,  that  pri 
vate  property  must  be  respected,  but  the  belligerent 
may  take  and  use  what  may  be  needed  by  the 
invading  army,  and  may  destroy,  retain  or  carry 
away  whatever  may  be  useful  to  his  enemy  for 
military  purposes,  with  compensation  to  the  owners 


THE    FUTURE.  91 

in  certain  cases  and  without  compensation  in 
others. 

What  then  are  the  rights  of  a  belligerent  over 
slaves,  regarding  the  latter  simply  as  the  private 
property  of  the  subjects  of  the  enemy  ?  They  are 
the  same  (subject  to  the  laws  of  humanity)  which 
he  has  over  the  horses  and  cattle  found  in  the 
invaded  country — that  is,  a  right  to  take  and  use 
them  himself  in  any  way  consistent  with  the  ob 
jects  of  the  invasion ;  and  not  forbidden  by  the 
rules  of  international  law,  or  to  adopt  any  means, 
within  the  same  limits,  to  prevent  their  increas 
ing  the  military  efficiency  of  the  enemy.  There 
fore,  if  the  law  of  humanity  did  not  forbid  such 
barbarity,  a  belligerent  might,  if  he  saw  fit,  in 
order  to  weaken  his  enemy,  destroy  that  species 
of  property  by  the  actual  killing  of  the  slaves, 
and  he  may,  without  violation  of  any  recognized 
principle,  carry  it  away  with  him,  by  transporting 
the  slaves  out  of  the  country ;  or  he  may  keep  it 
from  the  use  of  the  owners,  either  directly,  by 
retaining  the  slaves  in  his  own  possession,  or  indi 
rectly,  by  simply  declaring  them  free  for  the  time 
being  and  protecting  them  against  their  master's 
claims. 

Such  are  unquestionably  the  rights  of  a  bellige 
rent  over  slaves,  considered  merely  as  personal 
property,  but  the  owner's  rights  to  the  same  kind 
of  property  after  the  return  of  peace  are  equally 


92  THE    FUTUEE. 

well  defined  by  the  law  of  nations.  If  provision  is 
made  respecting  his  title  by  the  treaty  of  peace, 
of  course  no  question  will  arise.  And  if  the  pro 
perty  has  been  actually  and  physically  destroyed 
by  the  invader,  there  is  no  redress,  and  the  owner 
must  bear  the  loss,  unless  his  own  government 
remunerates  him.  The  same  result  ensues  if  the 
invading  army  has  carried  the  property  to  its 
own  country.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  is  equally 
clear  that  if  the  property  has  been  left  behind  by 
the  invading  army,  it  reverts  at  once  to  the  posses 
sion  and  ownership  of  the  person  from  whom  it  was 
originally  taken.  Martial  law  being  ended,  the 
civil  law,  temporarily  interrupted,  resumes  its  sway, 
and  restores  all  rights  of  property  to  the  "  status 
quo  ante  bellum."  ISTo  writer  upon  international 
or  military  law  has  ever  advanced  the  proposition 
tha-t  a  military  edict  can  accomplish  a  constructive 
destruction  of  property,  which  remains  physically 
intact,  after  martial  law  has  ceased  to  operate. 
Kegarding  the  slave  therefore  in  the  light  of  pro 
perty,  the  United  States,  in  the  exercise  of  martial 
law  can  do  nothing  but  suspend  the  master's  power 
over  him  till  the  termination  of  hostilities,  and  when 
the  sway  of  the  civil  law  returns,  the  right  and  the 
ownership  of  the  master  will  return  with  it. 

But  in  treating  a  subject  of  this  kind,  we  must 
also  consider  the  slaves  as  persons  occupying  a 
peculiar  status  under  the  local  law.  This  is  the 


THE    FUTURE.  m       93 

aspect  in  which  the  law  of  nations  has  usually  con 
sidered  them  in  modern  times ;  and  in  fact,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  it  is  impossible  to  lose  sight 
altogether  of  their  human  character,  even  when 
treating  them  as  property. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  while  the  hostile 
occupation  lasts,  all  the  laws  and  institutions  of  an 
invaded  nation  stand  or  fall,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
within  the  district  occupied  bythe  invader,  at  the 
will  of  the  latter.  This  is  the  necessary  result  of 
that  substitution  of  martial  law  for  civil  law  which 
attends  every  invasion.  The  military  leader  of  the 
conquering  army  becomes,  for  the  time  being,  the 
autocrat  of  the  country  over  which  his  occupation 
extends,  and  the  only  rule  of  action  of  all  persons 
within  that  district  is  his  will  and  command — "  Sic 
volo,  sic  jubeo — stet  pro  ratione  voluntas."  But 
from  the  very  nature  of  its  origin,  personal  rights 
acquired  during  the  existence  of  this  anomalous 
state  of  things,  are  of  a  temporary  character  merely, 
and  cease  with  the  restoration  of  the  suspended 
jurisdiction  of  the  invaded  nation.  And  therefore, 
although  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  during  the 
time  while  the  hostile  occupation  lasts,  every  slave 
must  be  considered  as  a  freeman  if  the  military  com 
mander  so  orders,  it  seems  equally  evident  that  in 
order  to  entitle  himself  to  a  permanent  enjoyment 
of  his  freedom,  the  newly  made  freedman  must 
take  care  to  keep  himself  under  the  protection  of 


94:  THE    FUTURE. 

that  law  from  which  his  freedom  is  derived,  and 
out  of  tlie  reach  of  that  law  under  which  he  was  a 
slave,  and  whose  temporary  suspension  changed  his 
status.  This  he  can  only  accomplish  by  leaving 
the  invaded  territory,  which  he  may  do,  either 
while  the  occupation  lasts,  or  by  accompanying  the 
invading  army,  with  the  permission  of  its  com 
mander,  when  it  shall  return  to  its  own  country. 
At  whatever  time  he  may  thus  expatriate  himself, 
he  will  still  be  under  the  protection  of  military  law 
until  he  reaches  the  territory  of  the  invader,  and 
upon  his  arrival  there,  his  title  to  freedom  will  be 
come  complete  by  the  permanent  cessation  of  the 
operation  of  that  law  under  which  he  was  a  slave. 

I  am  saved  the  labor  of  examining  or  citing 
numerous  authorities  to  sustain  these  different  pro 
positions  by  the  compilation  made  by  Dr.  Francis 
Lieber,  and  entitled  "  Instructions  for  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  Armies  of  the  United  States  in  the 
Field,"  which  were  "  approved  by  the  President," 
and  promulgated  to  the  army  by  an  order  dated 
April  24,  1863.  As  this  manual  of  martial  and 
military  law  was  specially  designed  for  the  present 
emergency,  and  "  revised  by  a  board  of  officers " 
after  its  preparation  by  its  distinguished  author,  it 
unquestionably  states  the  law  as  strongly  in  our 
favor,  as  the  most  liberal  construction  of  doubtful 
precedents  will  warrant.  I  refer  the  reader,  who 
wishes  to  examine  the  subject  in  detail,  to  para- 


THE    FUTURE.  95 

graphs  1,  2,  3,  4,  6,  10,  14,  15,  20,  21,  22,  23,  31, 
32,  37,  38,  42  and  43  of  these  instructions.  It  will 
be  sufficient  for  me  to  copy  paragraph  32,  which 
reads  as  follows  :  "  A  victorious  army,  by  the  mar 
tial  power  inherent  in  the  same,  may  suspend, 
change  or  abolish,  as  far  as  martial  power  extends, 
the  relations  which  arise  from  the  service  due 
according  to  the  existing  laws  of  the  invaded 
country,  from  any  citizen,  subject,  or  native  of  the 
same  to  another.  The  commander  of  the  army 
must  leave  it  to  the  ultimate  treaty  of  peace  to  settle 
the  permanency  of  this  change" 

Our  own  history  furnishes  us  two  memorable 
instances  of  the  temporary  character  of  emancipa 
tion  under  martial  law,  not  followed  by  transporta 
tion  of  the  freedman  to  the  country  of  the  emanci 
pator.  In  both  of  our  wars  with  Great  Britain, 
that  of  the  revolution  and  that  of  1812-15,  our 
country  was  invaded,  and  numbers  of  negro  slaves 
took  refuge  within  the  British  lines,  attracted  by 
military  proclamations  oifering  them  freedom.  It 
was,  in  each  case,  made  one  of  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  of  peace  which  followed,  that  such  of  the 
refugees  as  had  not  left  the  country,  should  be 
delivered  up  to  their  masters,  and  this  result  was 
accomplished  simply  by  an  agreement  on  the  part 
of  the  British  that  they  should  not  be  taken  away 

The  provision  to  that  effect  in  the  treaty  of  Paris, 
dated  Sept.  3,  IT 83,  and  bearing  the  signatures  of 


96  THE    FUTURE. 

John  Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Jonn  Jay, 
was  as  follows  :  "Article  7.  His  Britannic  majesty 
shall,  with  all  convenient  speed,  and  without  caus 
ing  any  destruction,  or  carrying  away  any  negroes 
or  other  property  of  the  American  inhabitants, 
withdraw  all  his  armies,  garrisons  and  fleets  from 
the  said  United  States,  &c."  The  treaty  of  Ghent, 
dated  Dec.  24,  1814,  and  signed  by  John  Quincy 
Adams,  James  A.  Bayard,  Henry  Clay,  Jonathan 
Eussell  and  Albert  Gallatin,  provides  in  like  man 
ner  :  "  Article  1.  All  territory,  places,  &c 

shall  be  restored  without  delay,  and  without  carry 
ing  away  ....  any  slaves  or  other  private  pro 
perty"  The  negroes  thus  left  behind  were  at  once 
reclaimed  by  their  masters,  and  no  doubt  has  ever 
been  suggested  that,  whether  they  were  considered 
as  property  or  as  persons,  the  relation  formerly 
existing  between  them  and  their  masters  was  at 
once  restored. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  military  power  of 
the  President,  as  commander-in-cJiief  of  the  army, 
would  extend  no  further  than  to  proffer  TEMPORARY 
freedom  to  such  slaves  as  should  be  found  within 
any  territory  occupied  by  our  forces ;  and  if  deemed 
expedient,  such  safe  transportation  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  slaveholding  States,  as  would  ensure 
them  against  being  reduced  again  to  slavery,  after 
the  cessation  of  the  war.  Whether  such  protection 
could  be  secured  on  this  side  of  the  Canada  line, 


THE    FUTURE.  97 

need  not  now  be  considered.  For  no  suggestion  of 
the  expatriation  of  the  slaves,  in  any  form  or  at  any 
time,  is  made  in  the  proclamations,  and  none  of 
the  preliminary  measures  have  been  taken  by  exe 
cutive  or  legislative  action,  which  such  a  gigantic 
task  would  require.  On  the  contrary,  the  evident 
and  openly  acknowledged  purpose  of  the  proclama 
tions  is  permanently  to  guaranty  to  the  negroes 
their  freedom  and  continued  residence  within  the 
limits  of  the  slaveholding  States. 

The  proclamation  of  September,  1862,  declares 
that  on  the  first  of  January,  1863,  "  all  persons  held 
as  slaves  within  any  State  or  designated  part  of  a 
State,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then,  thencefor 
ward  and  forever  free  " — that  such  freedom  will  be 
maintained  by  the  whole  power  of  the  United 
States,  and  that  in  due  time  the  Executive  will 
recommend  that  loyal  citizens  should  be  compen 
sated  by  Congress  for  the  loss  of  their  slaves.  The 
proclamation  of  the  first  of  January,  1863,  recites 
that  of  the  preceding  September,  designates  the 
States  and  parts  of  States  within  which  all  persons 
held  as  slaves  "are  and  henceforward  shall  be 
free,"  renews  the  promise  to  guaranty  such  freedom 
by  the  whole  military  and  naval  force  of  the  nation, 
exhorts  the  freed  negroes  "  to  labor  faithfully  for 
reasonable  wages,"  and  finally,  "  upon  this  act,  sin 
cerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice,  warranted 


98  THE    FUTURE. 

by  the  Constitution  upon  military  necessity,'7  the 
President  invokes  "the  considerate  judgment  of 
mankind,  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty 
God." 

Reluctant  as  I  am  to  attribute  any  intention  to 
the  President  to  overthrow  the  Constitution,  or  to 
violate  the  pledge  contained  in  the  Crittendeii  reso 
lution  and  the  dispatches  written  under  his  direc 
tion  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  I  am  unable  to  resist 
the  conclusion,  either  that  these  proclamations  were 
intended  to  delude  the  unfortunate  beings  for  whose 
freedom  he  professed  to  make  provision,  by  promises 
which  he  had  no  design  or  ability  to  fulfil,  or  else 
that  they  indicate  his  intention  to  continue  the  war 
till  "  the  permanency  of  the  change "  has  been 
settled  by  "  the  ultimate  treaty  of  peace."  A 
decent  respect  for  the  personal  character  of  the 
President  as  well  as  the  dignity  of  his  office,  forbids 
us  to  impute  to  him  the  base  perfidy  which  the  first 
of  these  alternatives  implies.  And  as  the  "  treaty 
of  peace "  to  which  the  Crittenden  resolution 
pledged  the  nation,  would  throw  the  negroes  back 
into  a  state  of  slavery,  from  which  he  had  power 
only  temporarily  to  release  them,  it  seems  impos 
sible  to  entertain  the  supposition  that  he  intends  or 
expects  that  the  nation;;!  pledge  contained  in  that 
resolution  will  be  redeemed. 

I  have  said  nothing  respecting  that  extraordinary 
feature  of  the  proclamation,  extending  the  proposed 


THE    FUTURE.  99 

emancipation  beyond  our  military  lines,  and  to 
States  in  which  we  have  scarcely  occupied  an  islet 
upon  the  coast  or  a  narrow  strip  along  the  frontier. 
Its  effect,  as  applied  to  those  States,  would  be 
to  prevent  the  restoration  of  the  former  constitu 
tional  relation  between  their  people  and  the  general 
Government,  even  if  they  should  at  once  volun- 
rarily  abandon  their  rebellion  and  return  to  the 
Union.  Grave,  however,  as  this  consideration  would 
be  under  other  circumstances,  its  importance  nearly 
disappears  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  so-called 
military  measure  is,  even  in  districts  in  which  our 
sway  is  undisputed,  an  act  of  permanent  legislation, 
as  revolutionary  in  its  character  as  the  act  of  seces 
sion  itself. 

But  it  will  be  said  that/  the  proclamations  show 
on  their  face  a  design  to  maintain  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  States,  for  the  September  proclama 
tion  commences  with  this  assurance,  "  that  here 
after,  as  heretofore,  the  war  will  be  prosecuted  for 
the  object  of  practically  restoring  the  constitutional 
relation  between  the  United  States  and  each  of  the 
States  and  the  people  thereof,  in  which  States  that 
relation  is  or  may  be  suspended  or  disturbed." 

I  know  not  by  what  process  the  President  has 
satisfied  his  own  mind  that  he  can  sustain  his  so- 
called  military  decree  for  the  perpetual  abolition  of 
slavery,  and  yet  restore  the  States,  whose  local  laws 
he  has  thus  permanently  attempted  to  alter,  to  the 


300  THE    FUTURE. 

full  enjoyment  of  their  rights  and  sovereignty  as 
they  existed  before  the  war  broke  out.  But  I  know 
of  no  rule  of  constitutional  law  or  of  martial  law  by 
which  the  two  objects  can  be  accomplished,  so  as 
to  render  the  body  of  the  September  emancipation 
proclamation  at  all  consistent  with  its  preamble.* 

*  This  chapter  was  written  before  the  promulgation  of 
the  President's  message  and  the  accompanying  proclama 
tion,  dated  December  8,  1863.  I  will  consider  hereafter 
in  detail  the  President's  plan  of  reconstruction,  and  its 
practical  effects.  It  suffices  to  say,  in  this  place,  that  the 
documents  referred  to  contain  a  substantial  confession  of 
the  impossibility  of  fulfilling  the  guaranty  of  permanent 
freedom  to  the  slaves,  contained  in  the  emancipation  pro 
clamation,  without  revolutionizing  the  States  by  military 
power.  For  the  President's  proposition  amounts  simply  to 
this,  that  one-tenth  of  those  who  would  be  voters  under 
the  existing  State  constitutions,  shall  form  a  State  govern 
ment  with  a  new  constitution,  "  which  shall  recognize  and 
declare  their  (the  slaves)  permanent  freedom,"  and  that  the 
United  States  Government  will  sustain  the  government  so 
formed  as  the  lawful  government  of  the  State.  What  is 
this  but  revolution  ?  Even  if  the  cooperation  of  a  majority 
of  the  voters  was  required,  it  would  be  revolution,  though 
of  course  of  a  much  less  reprehensible  character.  But 
there  is  no  substantial  difference  between  the  plan  actually 
proposed,  and  one  which  should  dispense  altogether  with 
the  cooperation  of  any  part  of  the  citizens,  except  those 
who  would  fill  the  new  offices.  For  there  is  no  more  con 
sonance  to  the  theory  of  republican  government  (the  Con 
stitution  beiug  entirely  laid  out  of  view)  in  allowing  one- 
tenth  to  erect  a  government  over  the  other  nine-tenths, 
than  there  would  be  to  confer  the  same  privilege  upon  one- 
hundredth,  one-thousandth,  or  even  a  smaller  fraction. 


THE    FUTURE.  101 

1  have  intended  to  comment  upon  this  inconsistency 
temperately  and  with  the  respect  due  to  the  Presi 
dent  and  his  office,  and  thus  to  fulfil  the  pledge  of 
moderation  which  I  gave  at  the  commencement  of 
this  work.  But  I  will  state  a  case,  which  is  exactly 
parallel  to  the  one  before  us,  and  which  will  give 
rise  to  no  suspicion  of  bias,  either  for  or  against  the 
person  who  represents  the  President,  and  let  the 
reader  decide  it  for  himself.  I  wrill  suppose  that 
Great  Britain  had  commenced  a  war  with  us  to 
settle  an  international  dispute — say  respecting  the 
construction  of  the  extradition  treaty — and,  sus 
picions  having  been  excited  that  she  meditated  to 
effect,  by  means  of  the  war,  a  permanent  conquest 
of  a  portion  of  the  southern  States  or  a  forcible 
abolition  of  slavery,  that  she  had  solemnly  pledged 
herself  through  her  parliament,  and  by  diplo 
matic  communications  to  foreign  courts,  that  the 
war  was  prosecuted  for  no  other  object  than  to 
obtain  the  delivery  of  the  refugees,  whose  case  had 
occasioned  the  dispute,  and  that  it  should  ce-ase 
when  that  object  was  effected.  I  will  further  sup 
pose  that  she  had  invaded  the  southern  States ;  that 
her  armies  held  a  portion  of  those  States  ;  and  that 
the  queen  should  issue  a  proclamation,  declaring 
that  the  war  would  continue  to  be  prosecuted,  as 
it  had  been  for  the  sole  object  of  procuring  the  sur 
render  of  the  refugees ;  and  that  as  a  military  mea 
sure,  and  as  an  act  of  justice,  upon  which  she 


102  TnE    FUTURE. 

invoked  the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and 
the  favor  of  Almighty  God,  she  declared  all  slaves 
in  the  United  States,  whether  within  or  without  her 
military  lines,  "  thenceforth  and  forever  free"  and 
would  maintain  their  freedom  with  all  the  military 
and  naval  force  of  the  British  crown. 

I  turn  the  English  government,  in  this  suppo 
sititious  case,  over  to  my  reader  for  judgment.  Let 
him  pronounce  sentence,  and  then  mete  out  the 
same  measure  of  justice  to  his  own. 


THE    FUTURE.  1Q3 


CHAPTEE  VL 

How  the  Southern  People  were  induced  to  Favor  the  Rebellion — 
Relations  of  the  Slaveholders  and  of  the  Institution  of  Slavery  to 
the  Masses  of  the  People — Theories  of  the  Constitution  and  of 
Public  Policy  which  were  prevalent  in  the  South — The  Manner 
in  which  the  Southern  Union  Party  was  Extinguished — Action 
of  the  Border  Slave  States. 

I  PROPOSE  to  examine  in  this  chapter,  how  much 
foundation  there  was  for  the  opinion,  which  was  so 
generally  entertained  at  the  North,  that  the  south 
ern  people  were  forced  against  their  own  will  into 
an  attitude  of  rebellion,  by  the  violence  and  usurpa 
tion  of  their  leaders  ;  to  what  extent  a  Union  senti 
ment  existed  among  them  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war ;  and  in  what  manner  it  was  stifled  or  extin 
guished  in  the  course  of  the  events  which  succeeded 
the  commencement  of  hostilities.  The  object  of 
my  work  cannot  be  accomplished  without  making 
this  investigation,  for  it  is  impossible  to  form  any 
reliable  opinion  concerning  the  effect  of  the  policy 
which  has  been  pursued,  or  to  determine  with  any 
accuracy  the  probable  effects  of  any  policy  which 
we  may  contemplate  pursuing,  without  attaining, 
approximately  at  least,  a  correct  understanding  of 


104  THE    FUTURE. 

these  subjects.  Many  extravagant  theories  to  ac 
count  for  the  unanimity  of  the  southern  people  in 
carrying  on  the  war  have  been  broached,  and  have 
found  ready  credence  at  the  North.  It  is  not  diffi 
cult,  I  think,  to  ascertain  the  truth,  if  we  will  discard 
passion  and  prejudice  from  our  minds,  and  conduct 
our  investigations  by  the  light  of  our  reason,  our 
common  sense,  and  our  experience  of  the  operations 
of  human  nature,  aided  by  our  knowledge  of  the 
political  and  social  institutions  of  the  South,  and 
the  theories  of  government,  political  economy,  and 
constitutional  law,  which  were  prevalent  among  the 
southern  people  when  the  war  broke  out. 

I  shall  say  nothing  concerning  the  leading  south 
ern  statesmen — those  I  mean  with  whose  names  we  at 
the  North  have  been  made  familiar,  as  conspirators 
of  more  or  less  recent  standing,  against  the  integrity 
of  the  Union,  because  it  would  be  impossible  for 
me  to  do  full  justice  to  the  subject  without  entering 
upon  a  discussion,  the  reasons  for  declining  which 
I  have  stated  in  the  Introduction.  And  it  is  not 
necessary  for  the  elucidation  of  the  subject,  within 
the  limits  to  which  I  have  confined  it,  to  comment 
upon  their  actions  or  their  motives  :  for  my  concern 
is  with  the  great  body  of  the  southern  people,  who 
were  honest  and  patriotic  in  intention,  and  actuated 
by  feelings,  passions,  and  interests,  very  similar  to 
those  which  actuate  corresponding  classes  of  our 
own  people.  Nor  are  they  upon  the  whole  less 


THE    FUTURE.  105 

intelligent  or  less  capable  of  judging  correctly  of 
passing  and  future  events,  than  the  body  of  the 
people  with  us;  for  although  education  and  informa 
tion  are  less  generally  diffused  in  the  South  than  in 
the  North,  they  have  not  yet  reached  in  either  sec 
tion  that  point  which  enables  the  masses  to  form 
their  own  opinions  concerning  great  questions  of 
international  or  internal  policy.  And  although  we 
are  apt  to  plume  ourselves  upon  the  superior  politi 
cal  sagacity  of  our  people  (which  necessarily  means 
the  superior  sagacity  of  those  who  give  tone  to  pub 
lic  opinion),  yet  the  South  has  always  made  the 
same  boast  on  its  part ;  and  further  information  and 
calm  reflection  upon  past  events,  may  possibly  lead 
each  section  to  modify  its  extravagant  claim  of 
superior  sagacity,  as  it  has  already  modified  an 
equally  extravagant  claim  of  superior  personal 
courage  and  military  efficiency. 

In  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  a  property  quali 
fication,  or  the  payment  of  taxes  within  a  year,  is 
requisite  to  create  an  elector.  In  North  Carolina, 
electors  for  the  State  senate  must  possess  fifty  acres 
of  freehold  land,  and  for  all  other  offices  must  have 
paid  a  tax.  With  these  exceptions,  universal  suf 
frage  prevails  in  the  South  as  with  us,  the  elective 
franchise  being  extended  to  all  adult  white  male 
citizens  who  have  the  necessary  qualification  of 
residence.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  political  power 
is  practically  lodged  with  the  masses  of  the  people 

5* 


106  THE    FUTURE. 

at  the  South  as  well  as  at  the  North.  With  them 
as  with  us,  a  popular  majority  has  always  been 
essential  to  the  success  of  measures  of  public  policy, 
and  to  the  gratification  of  the  ambitious  hopes  of 
politicians.  With  them,  as  with  us,  there  has  been 
for  years  a  great  diversity  of  opinion  upon  political 
questions,  and  the  people  have  been  accustomed  to 
be  appealed  to  at  short  intervals  through  the  press 
and  upon  the  rostrum  by  candidates  for  their  favor. 
With  them  as  with  us,  there  has  been  an  enthusiastic 
and  universal  devotion  to  the  principles  of  popular 
government  and  an  exalted  opinion  of  the  rights  of 
the  people.  And  therefore  it  was  quite  as  impossible 
with  them,  as  it  would  be  with  us,  that  a  few  scores 
or  even  hundreds  of  scheming  politicians  could  seize 
upon  the  reins  of  power,  and  without  any  standing 
army,  or  any  accumulation  of  public  treasure,  could 
overthrow  a  republican  government  in  all  but  the 
name,  establish  a  practical  despotism  over  a  coun 
try  far  exceeding  our  section  in  territorial  extent, 
raise  an  unprovoked  rebellion  against  a  Government 
enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  carry  on 
for  years  a  war  against  overwhelming  odds  to  sustain 
such  a  usurpation.  The  rebellion,  unless  it  had  com 
manded  the  support  of  a  very  large  majority  of  the 
people,  would  have  committed  felo-de-se  in  the  first 
month  of  its  existence.  Our  seventy -five  thousand 
volunteers  would  not  have  reached  their  destination 
in  time  to  pull  down  the  crumbling  edifice :  it 


THE    FUTURE.  107 

would  have  fallen  from  its  own  inherent  weakness 
upon  the  heads  of  its  architects  and  builders,  bury 
ing  them  forever  beneath  its  ruins. 

It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  for  some  reason,  the 
great  body  of  the  southern  people  either  favored 
the  rebellion  from  its  earliest  stages,  or  were  induced 
to  favor  it  by  the  events  which  immediately  suc 
ceeded  its  inception.  And  inasmuch  as  it  has 
brought  upon  them  hardships,  which  nothing  but  a 
conviction  of  duty  and  patriotism,  or  a  sense  of 
necessity  would  have  enabled  them  to  sustain,  it  is 
also  evident  either  that  it  still  appeals  successfully 
to  their  convictions  of  right,  or  that  they  see  no 
way  of  abandoning  it  without  dishonor,  or  exposing 
themselves  to  greater  calamities  than  perseverance 
in  the  struggle  will  bring  upon  them.  For  although 
the  war  has  resulted,  with  them  as  with  us,  in  the 
discovery  that  the  Government  wields  powers  which 
plain  men  would  search  the  Constitution  in  vain  to 
discover ;  yet  the  basis  of  their  system  is  also  univer 
sal  suffrage,  and  the  legislative  power  of  the  States 
and  of  the  Confederacy,  without  the  support  of 
which  the  war  could  not  be  carried  on,  is  annually 
or  biennially  renewed  by  the  votes  of  the  people. 
Their  government  is  also  much  more  dependent  than 
ours  upon  the  support  of  popular  opinion  for  its 
ability  to  carry  on  the  war,  not  only  because  it  is  a 
revolution  struggling  for  existence  against  fearful 
odds,  and  under  almost  hopeless  financial  embar- 


108  THE    FUTURE. 

rassments,  but  also  because  the  principle  upon  which 
it  was  founded  recognizes  the  right  of  every  one  of 
the  members  of  the  Confederacy  to  make  a  separate 
treaty  for  itself  and  return  to  the  former  Union, 
should  it  see  fit  to  do  so. 

Let  us  therefore  ascertain,  in  the  first  place,  as 
well  as  the  means  of  information  accessible  to  us  will 
allow,  the  process  by  which  the  people  of  the  South 
were  induced  to  believe  originally  that  it  was  right 
and  expedient  to  embark  in  the  rebellion. 

Although  a  philosophical  observer  may  be  able  to 
trace  the  real  origin  of  the  dispute  between  the  two 
sections  back  to  diiferences  of  climate  or  race,  or  to 
radical  defects  in  our  system  of  government,  it  can 
not  be  denied  that  the  institution  of  slavery  was  the 
outward  manifestation  of  the  cause  of  the  quarrel. 
Many  of  our  people  believe  that  the  rebellion  pro 
ceeded  from  a  calculation,  on  the  part  of  the  slave 
holders,  of  the  comparative  pecuniary  profit  and 
personal  aggrandisement  to  accrue  to  them,  as  own 
ers  of  slaves,  from  union  or  disunion  ;  and  that  hav 
ing  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  latter  promised 
them  more  benefits  than  the  former,  they  delibe 
rately  plunged  the  country  into  the  miseries  of  civil 
war  for  the  purpose  of  realizing  them.  This  theory 
extends  the  number  of  selfish,  unprincipled,  and  cal 
culating  conspirators  against  the  Union,  so  as  to 
embrace  not  only  the  leading  politicians,  but  also 
the  great  body  of  the  slaveholders,  or  at  least  the 


THE    FUTURE.  109 

principal  slaveholders.  But  apart  from  the  fact 
that  the  large  slaveholders  as  a  body  include  as 
many  conscientious  and  patriotic  men,  as  the  social 
class  which  corresponds  to  them  at  the  North,  ifc 
will  be  apparent  from  a  consideration  of  their  rela 
tive  numbers,  as  compared  with  the  rest  of  the  peo 
ple,  that  it  would  be  utterly  impracticable  for  them 
to  carry  out  any  scheme  to  sacrifice  the  interests 
of  their  fellow-citizens  in  order  to  promote  their 
own. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  procure,  notwithstanding 
considerable  research,  any  reliable  figures  indicating 
the  present  number  of  slaveholders,  and  the  amount 
of  slaves  owned  by  each,  but  returns  of  those  statis 
tics  are  contained  in  the  census  of  the  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty,  which  will  sufficiently  answer 
my  purpose.  From  these  it  appears  that  the  total 
white  population  'of  all  the  slaveholding  States, 
including  the  District  of  Columbia,  Delaware,  Ken 
tucky,  Maryland  and  Missouri,  was  6,222,418,  of 
whom  347,525,  or  about  one  in  seventeen,  were 
slaveholders.  But  of  the  latter,  255,268  owned 
less  than  ten  slaves,  and  only  92,257,  or  about 
one  in  sixty-seven  of  the  white  population  owned 
ten  slaves  and  upwards.  Of  course  this  propor 
tion  would  be  greatly  diminished  by  rejecting 
those  who  are  minors  and  women,  and  therefore 
incapable  of  exercising  any  political  control  over 
the  rest  of  the  people.  But  the  aggregate  number 


110  THE    FUTURE. 

of  slaveholders  is  in  fact  much  less  than  the  returns 
indicate.  Mr.  Helper,  in  "  The  Impending  Crisis  " 
(p.  147),  states  upon  the  authority  of  Professor 
De  Bow,  the  superintendent  of  the  census,  "  that 
the  number  includes  slave-hirers,"  and  further 
more,  "that  where  the  party  owns  slaves  in  different 
counties  or  in  different  States,  he  will  be  entered 
more  than  once,"  and  he  adds  (p.  148)  certain  data, 
from  which  he  concludes  that  the  number  of  slave 
holders  bears  to  the  number  of  "  non-slaveholding 
slave-hirers"  the  proportion  of  fifty-one  to  forty- 
three.  It  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  the  owner 
ship  of  a  less  number  of  slaves  than  ten  would 
create  such  an  interest  in  the  institution  of  slavery, 
as  to  induce  a  citizen  to  act  against  his  own  convic 
tions  of  right  and  duty,  in  incurring  the  guilt  of 
rebellion  and  the  miseries  and  hazards  of  civil  war, 
merely  in  the  hope  of  realizing  personal  advantages 
by  the  increase  either  of  his  individual  consequence, 
or  of  the  value  of  his  slaves,  or  of  the  security  of 
that  species  of  property.  And  the  foregoing  state 
ment  shows  how  powerless  the  larger  slaveholders 
were  to  influence  the  course  of  public  events,  so  as  to 
promote  their  own  interests  at  the  expense  of  those 
of  the  rest  of  the  community.*  And  if  we  concede 

*  I  might  add  that  it  has  been  repeatedly  proved  that 
the  largest  slaveholders  were  from  the  beginning  opposed 
to  the  whole  scheme  of  secession,  either  from  patriotism  or 
because  it  tended  to  the  ruin,  instead  of  the  benefit  of  their 


THE    FUTURE.  HI 

that  their  weaith  and  social  position  would  give 
them  a  greater  influence  over  public  opinion  in  their 
own  section,  than  the  corresponding  class  could 
command  at  the  Xorth,  it  is  still  impossible  to  sup 
pose  them  capable  of  inducing  such  a  large  class  of 
their  fellow-citizens,  composed,  measurably  at  least, 
of  intelligent  and  independent  men,  accustomed  to 
control  the  event  of  public  affairs,  to  consent  to 


interests.  I  append  two  distinct  admissions  of  this  fact 
from  distinguished  republican  sources  : 

"Throughout  all  the  agitations  pending  the  outbreak  of 
the  rebellion  the  more  extensive  and  wealthy  among  them 
(the  slaveholders)  steadily  resisted  disunion  as  involving 
the  overthrow  of  slavery.  Governor  Aiken,  the  largest 
slaveholder  in  South  Carolina,  slipped  away  to  Europe,  if 
we  mistake  not,  very  early  in  1861,  and  there  remains. 
At  all  events,  he  has  never  had  a  word  of  cheer  for  the 
rebellion.  Governor  Hammond,  another  South  Carolina 
patriarch,  rich,  shrewd,  and  a  most  intense  devotee  of  '  the 
institution/  has  been  ominously  silent  ever  since  Lincoln's 

election The  men  who  had  most  at  stake  upon 

slavery  hesitated  to  play  the  desperate  game  to  which  they 
were  impelled,  knowing  well  that  by  playing  it  they  risked 
their  all." — New  York  Tribune. 

11  Every  man  acquainted  with  the  facts  knows  that  it  is 

fallacious  to  call  this  '  a  slaveholders7  rebellion.' 

A  closer  scrutiny  demonstrates  the  contrary  to  be  true  ; 
such  a  scrutiny  demonstrates  that  the  rebellion  originated 
chiefly  with  the  non-slaveholders  resident  in  the  strong 
holds  of  the  institution,  not  springing,  however,  from  any 
love  of  slavery,  but  from  an  antagonism  of  race  and 
hostility  to  the  idea  of  equality  with  the  blacks  involved  in 
simple  emancipation." — General  Francis  P.  Blaii 


112  THE    FUTURE. 

commit  treason,  and  inaugurate  civil  war  to   the 
'direct  ruin  of  their  own  interests. 

The  real  explanation  of  the  attachment  of  all 
classes  of  society  at  the  South  to  the  institution  of 
slavery,  is  to  be  found,  not  in  the  tyranny  over 
public  opinion  exercised  by  a  few  selfish  men,  but 
in  the  fact  that  the  whole  industrial  system  of  that 
section,  comprising  its  manufacturing  and  trading, 
as  well  as  its  agricultural  interests,  is  based  upon 
the  institution  of  slavery,  precisely  as  our  whole 
industrial  system  is  based  upon  free  labor.  Thus 
the  institution  had  intertwined  itself  with  the  inter 
ests  of  the  whole  people,  whether  slaveholders  or 
not,  so  that  its  violent  overthrow  would  dry  up, 
temporarily  at  least,  nearly  every  source  of  indi 
vidual  and  public  prosperity.  It  would  besides,  as 
the  southerner  believed,  transform  a  body  of  useful 
and  profitable  laborers  into  a  mass  of  shiftless, 
thieving,  idle  paupers,  a  burden  to  the  public  and  a 
curse  to  the  whole  country  in  which  they  resided. 
He  was  taught  by  his  political  leaders  that  the  North 
was  endeavoring  to  accomplish  this  result,  and  that 
Mr.  Lincoln's  election  was  the  first  step  towards 
its  accomplishment.*  Pride,  self-respect,  his  very 

*  The  theory  upon  which  the  Soutli  founded  its  fears 
that  the  North  would  attempt  the  abolition  of  slavery,  may 
be  found  in  the  leading  speeches  made  in  the  Senate  by 
Mr.  Clingman,  of  North  Carolina  ;  Mr.  Mason,  of  Vir 
ginia  ;  Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi  ;  and  Mr.  Douglas,  of 


THE    FUTURE. 


attachments  to  the  principles  of  self-government, 
combined  with  his  own  interest  to  attach  him  more 
firmly  to  the  institution  thus  menaced  from  without, 
and  to  make  him  ready  to  resist  by  force  of  arms  any 
attempt  to  ruin  his  section  of  the  country,  to  deprive 
him  of  his  constitutional  rights,  and  to  degrade  him 
as  a  freeman,  by  compelling  him  to  regulate  his 

Illinois,  in  the  early  part  of  the  session  of  Congress,  com 
mencing  in  December,  ]  860.  The  argument  was  that  Mr. 
Lincoln's  election,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  canvass  in 
his  behalf  had  been  conducted,  manifested  a  purpose  on  the 
part  of  the  North  to  accomplish  that  object,  and  that  the 
danger  was  only  postponed,  and  not  removed,  by  the  fact 
that  all  parties  agreed  that  Congress  had  no  constitutional 
power  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States.  The  North 
had  acquired  by  the  admission  of  California,  and  the  subse 
quent  admission  of  Oregon  and  Minnesota,  a  clear  majority 
in  the  Senate,  as  it  had  previously  had  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  and  the  electoral  college.  The  South  had 
failed  in  all  its  eiforts  to  create  any  further  slave  States, 
and  the  recent  election  had  settled  the  destiny  of  the  vast 
territories  of  the  United  States.  It  was  therefore  evident 
that  all  the  States  which  should  hereafter  be  carved  out 
of  the  vast  tract  of  country  yet  remaining,  would  be  non- 
slaveholdiug  States,  and  that  they  would  soon  be  sufficiently 
numerous  to  constitute,  with  the  other  non-slaveholding 
States,  three-fourths  of  the  whole  number.  By  the  pro 
visions  of  the  Constitution  itself,  it  could  be  amended  by  a 
two-third  vote  of  Congress  and  a  three-fourth  vote  of  the 
States,  and  hence  it  was  only  a  question  of  time,  and  that 
not  very  distant,  before  the  free  States  would  have  the 
power,  as  it  was  said  that  they  had  the  disposition,  to 
grant  to  Congress  the  constitutional  right  to  abolish  the 
institution  of  slavery  in  the  States. 


THE    FUTURE. 


domestic  institutions  in  accordance  with  the  opinions 
of  others  who  had  not  the  shadow  of  a  right  to 
interfere. 

Such  were  -unquestionably  the  sentiments  of  a 
very  large  majority  of  the  southern  people.  That 
there  was  not  absolute  unanimity  among  them  we 
know.  Many  southerners  have  long  doubted  the 
abstract  policy  of  perpetuating  the  institution  of 
slavery  ;  a  much  larger  number  have  doubted 
whether  it  was  worth  preserving  at  the  cost  of  dis 
union  and  civil  war.  The  numbers  of  each  of  these 
classes  in  any  particular  portion  of  the  southern  ter 
ritory  increased  in  magnitude  in  proportion  to  its 
distance  from  the  Gulf,  and  its  consequent  proximity 
to  the  northern  border  ;  and  in  the  States  of  Mis 
souri  and  Kentucky,  and  in  the  mountainous  por 
tions  of  Virginia  and  Tennessee,  they  constituted  a 
preponderating  majority  of  the  people.*  But  the 

*  The  soil  and  climate  of  Western  Virginia  and  Eastern 
Tennessee  are,  it  is  well  known,  comparatively  unfitted  for 
slave  labor,  and  the  institution  of  slavery  has  consequently 
failed  to  procure  in  those  regions  a  solid  and  permanent 
footing.  The  zeal  of  the  people  for  the  Union  and  their 
determined  opposition  to  secession,  was,  however,  the  indi 
rect  rather  than  the  direct  result  of  that  fact.  For  the 
legislation  of  both  of  the  States  being  controlled  by  the 
more  populous  slaveholding  sections,  has  been  for  many 
years  shaped  by  them  so  as  to  protect  and  foster  their  own 
interests  at  the  expense  of  those  of  the  non-slaveholding 
sections.  Strenuous  efforts  have  been  made  by  the  latter 
to  correct  this  evil,  but  without  success  ;  and  the  result  of 


THE    FUTURE.  115 

Union  party  included  still  another  and  much  more 
numerous  class  of  the  people. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  the  southern  section  of 
the  country  there  has  always  been  a  deep  and 
earnest  attachment  to  the  Union,  which,  though 
greatly  weakened  by  the  slavery  controversy,  had 
undoubtedly  in  the  winter  of  1860-1861  a  strong 
hold  upon  the  great  majority  of  the  southern  peo 
ple,  except  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina.  In 
that  State  it  would  seem  that  the  people  had  per 
suaded  themselves  that  disunion  was  desirable  per 
se  ;  but  in  all  the  other  States  it  was  regarded  by  a 
large  majority  of  the  people  as  a  great  calamity,  an 

the  conflict  has  been  to  substitute  a  feeling  of  hostility  to 
the  institution  of  slavery,  for  that  lukewarm  interest  which 
might  otherwise  have  existed  in  its  favor.  The  sympathies 
of  Eastern  Tennessee  and  Western  Virginia  have  conse 
quently  been  with  the  North,  in  the  course  of  the  slavery 
controversy  which  agitated  the  country  before  the  rebellion 
broke  out  ;  and  when  that  event  occurred,  the  people  of 
those  regions  did  not  wait  for  the  advent  of  our  armies  to 
rise  in  counter-revolution. 

There  are  very  few  parts  of  the  South  where  there  was 
anything  to  prevent  the  same  course  of  action  on  the  part 
of  the  people,  had  the  acts  of  secession  been  regarded  as  an 
attempt  to  sacrifice  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  masses, 
for  the  benefit  of  a  few  politicians  or  large  slaveholders. 
Even  in  Eastern  Tennessee  the  Union  feeling  was  far  from 
being  unanimous,  for  the  sufferings  of  the  Union  men  were 
due  to  a  considerable  extent  to  their  own  neighbors,  and 
at  the  election  held  in  February,  1861,  for  delegates  to  the 
State  convention,  there  were  5,577  disunion  votes  polled  in 
that  section. 


THE    FUTURE. 


injury  to  all  their  material  interests,  and  a  violent 
severing  of  ties  endeared  to  them  by  the  traditions 
of  their   childhood    and   the  associations  of  their 
maturer  years.     And  among  those  who  were  pre 
pared  to  resist  by  force  of  arms,  if  necessary,  any 
attempt  to  overthrow  the  institution  of  slavery  by 
the   action  of  the  northern  majority,  there  were 
many  who  doubted  whether  the  election  of  Mr.  Lin: 
coin  afforded  sufficient  evidence  of  the  hostile  inten 
tions  of  the  North,  to  justify  them  in  seceding  from 
the  Union  and  involving  the  country  in  civil  war. 
A  large  majority  of  the  people  of  the  border  slave 
States,  who  had  an  interest  in  the  question  of  seces 
sion  more  direct  and  immediate  than  the  people  of 
the  Gulf  States,  were  evidently  unwilling  to  make 
the  result  of  the  election  the  ground  of  dissolution, 
and  those  States  accordingly  took  action  looking  to 
a  reconciliation  of  the  alienated   sections,  and  to 
obtaining  such  guaranties  against  interference  with 
the  institutions  of  the  southern  section,  as  would 
dissipate  the  alarm  of  the  latter.     A  large  number 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Gulf  States  desired  to  await 
the  result  of  those  negotiations  before  withdrawing 
from  the  Union,  and  manifested  that  wish  by  their 
votes  when  the  elections  for  the  conventions  were 
held.     But  the  fact  that  no  considerable  number  of 
the   people  of  those  States  entertained  any  such 
feeling  of  loyalty  to  the  Union  under  all  circum 
stances,  as  was  supposed  to  prevail  among  them,  is 


THE    FUTURE.  117 

sufficiently  apparent  by  the  designation  which  the 
opponents  of  immediate  secession  adopted.  They 
styled  themselves  "  Cooperationists,"  signifying 
generally  by  that  name  that  they  favored  seces 
sion,  only  in  case  the  border  slave  States  would 
also  secede,  although  a  few  of  that  party  limited 
their  requirements  to  the  cooperation  of  all  the 
•cotton  States. 

In  fact,  no  State  except  South  Carolina  seceded 
till  after  the  failure  of  the  committee  of  thirteen  of 
the  Senate  to  agree  upon  the  Crittenden  compro 
mise.  And  whatever  opinion  may  be  entertained 
respecting  the  propriety  of  that  measure;  or  the 
sincerity  of  the  two  principal  southern  senators 
(Messrs.  Davis  and  Toombs)  in  the  promise  which 
they  made  in  the  committee  to  maintain  the  Union, 
if  it  should  be  adopted ;  or  of  the  effect  which  its 
adoption  would  in  fact  have  had  upon  the  action  of 
the  seceding  States,  no  candid  man  can  doubt  that 
the  refusal  of  the  incoming  party  to  accept  that 
measure  as  a  basis  of  settlement,  and  the  debates 
in  the  two  Houses  during  the  first  six  weeks  of  the 
second  session  of  the  thirty-sixth  Congress,  enabled 
the  disunionist  leaders  to  create  the  impression 
among  'their  people  that  the  door  was  finally  closed 
against  all  hopes  of  reconciliation.  That  impres 
sion  abundantly  accounts  for  the  trifling  vote  against 
the  ordinance  of  secession  which  was  cast  in  the 
different  conventions  of  the  Gulf  States,  notwith- 


118  THE    FUTURE. 

standing  the  results  of  the  elections,  without  resort 
ing  to  suspicions  of  bribery  or  threats  on  the  part 
of  the  secession  party  in  or  out  of  the  conventions. 
The  members  elected  as  "  cooperationists,"  doubt 
less  reflected  the  opinions  of  the  mass  of  their  party, 
in  believing  that  the  events  which  had  occurred 
since  their  election,  afforded  a  sufficient  reason  for 
voting  at  once  in  favor  of  the  ordinance  of  secession. 
But  whether  that  was  or  was  not  the  case,  the  politi 
cal  training  of  the  southern  people  was  such,  that 
after  the  ordinance  of  secession  was  in  fact  passed, 
and  war  ensued,  all  or  nearly  all  of  the  former 
opponents  of  the  measure  would  become  equally 
unanimous  and  determined  with  its  supporters  in 
defending  their  independence  at  all  hazards.  For 
the  constitutional  right  of  a  State  to  secede,  and  by 
that  act  to  absolve  all  its  citizens  from  their  alle 
giance  to  the  general  Government,  was  a  cardinal 
dogma  of  nearly  all  the  southern  people.  And 
those  few  who  denied  or  doubted  it,  as  an  abstract 
constitutional  right,  fully  adhered  to  the  doctrine 
that  the  general  Government  had  no  constitutional 
power  of  coercion  in  such  a  case,  and  that  the  suc 
cessful  exercise  of  coercion  would  result  in  the 
destruction  of  State  independence.  These  two  doc 
trines,  especially  the  latter,  were  as  prevalent  in  the 
border  States  as  in  the  Gulf  States,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  districts  of  Tennessee  and  Virginia,  to 
which  allusion  has  been  made.  The  zeal  and  unau- 


THE    FUTURE.  119 

iinity  with  which  they  have  been  maintained  by 
southern  statesmen,  for  many  years  past,  are  fre 
quently  considered  as  proofs  that  the  leading  poli 
ticians  of  the  South  have  been  for  a  long  time 
engaged  in  a  conspiracy  to  break  up  the  Union, 
and  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  was  the  pretext  of 
its  explosion  and  not  the  cause  of  dissolution.  It  is 
not  impossible  that  such  a  theory  may  be  well 
founded ;  but  whether  it  is  correct  or  not,  the  fact 
is  well  established  that  opinions  such  as  I  have 
described,  were  universally  held  by  honest  and  con 
scientious  men  as  well  as  those  wrho  were  neither. 
And  it  would  follow  as  a  natural  result  of  such 
opinions,  that  as  soon  as  secession  became  a  fait 
accompli,  its  original  opponents  would  at  once  con 
cede,  as  readily  as  their  antagonists,  that  their 
allegiance  was  rightfully  due  only  to  their  own 
State,  and  to  the  new  confederacy  of  which  she  at 
once  became  a  part.  Thus  the  act  of  secession 
extinguished  the  Union  party  as  soon  as  it  was 
adopted,  except  as  a  reconstructionist  party,  in 
which  form  it  continued,  though  much  enfeebled, 
to  exist  till  after  hostilities  commenced.  One  of  the 
best  known  illustrations  of  the  working  of  this  doc 
trine  is  afforded  by  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  who,  while  the  question  of  secession 
was  yet  open,  was  one  of  the  most  decided  Unionists 
and  a  bitter  assailant  of  the  secessionists.  Never 
theless  he  gave  in  his  adhesion  at  once  to  the  new 


120  TIIE    FUTURE. 

order  of  things,  and  so  little  doubt  was  entertained 
of  his  sincerity,  that  he  was  elected  the  first  Yice- 
President  of  the  new  confederacy. 

General  Lee,  StonewallJackson,  and  many  others 
of  the  most  eminent  military  and  civil  leaders  of  the 
Confederates,  were  also  decided  Unionists,  down  to 
the  time  of  the  actual  passage  of  the  ordinance  of 
secession  by  their  respective  States. 

The  border  slave  States,  Virginia,  Tennessee, 
North  Carolina  and  Arkansas,  remained  in  the 
Union  till  the  President's  call  for  troops  in  April, 
1861.  "Without  attempting  to  criticise  the  policy 
of  that  measure,  I  may  say  that  with  the  opinions 
which  they  held,  it  was  as  certain  to  lead  to  a  war 
with  those  four  States  as  with  the  States  which  had 
already  seceded. 

They  immediately  seceded  also,  and  joined  their 
fortunes  to  those  of  their  sister  States ;  and  similar 
causes  produced  results  similar  to  those  in  the  Gulf 
States  in  destroying  the  Union  party,  at  least  for 
the  time  being,  excepting  of  course  in  the  moun 
tainous  region.  Maryland  and  Kentucky  would 
have  gone  too,  but  the  gripe  of  the  armed  hand  of 
the  nation  was  upon  the  throat  of  Maryland,  before 
she  could  act;  and  Kentucky  was  saved  by  the 
statesmanship  of  a  few  of  her  noblest  patriots,  chief 
among  whom  was  the  honored  and  lamented  John 
J.  Crittenden.  They  succeeded  in  inducing  that 
State  to  assume  for  a  time  an  attitude  of  neutrality 


THE    FUTURE.  121 

in  the  war,  whereby  the  people  of  the  State  gained 
time  for  reflection  and  the  subsidence  of  their  angry 
passions,  and  the  Union  party  gained  time  for 
organization ;  and  the  result  was,  that  the  promi 
nent  secessionists  were  driven  out,  and  the  State 
was  saved  to  the  Union — let  us  hope  forever. 

I  may  remark  here  that  there  is  no  evidence  to 
show  that  the  sentiments  of  the  citizens  of  Tennes 
see  and  Virginia  were  not  correctly  expressed  by 
the  votes  of  those  States,  to  which  reference  has 
been  made.  The  natural  result  of  an  attempt  to 
coerce  the  seceded  States,  would  be  to  precipitate 
the  border  slave  States  into  the  arms  of  the  South 
ern  Confederacy.  In  truth,  that  is  the  only  intel 
ligible  explanation  of  the  remark  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
which  I  quoted  on  page  78,  from  his  message  in 
July,  1861.  "  At  such  an  election,  all  that  large 
class  who  are  at  once  for  the  Union  and  against 
coercion,  would  be  coerced  to  vote  against  the 
Union."  The  coercion  upon  the  voter  would  how 
ever  be  that  of  circumstances  merely ;  it  would 
exist  because  he  had  no  choice  between  secession, 
and  submission  to  and  participation  in  a  policy 
which  he  regarded  as  unconstitutional  and  destruc 
tive  of  public  liberty. 

The  vote  of  the  two  States  does  not  indicate  any 
other  kind  of  coercion.  The  total  vote  of  Tennes 
see  for  President  in  1860,  was  145,333 ;  the  vote 
upon  the  secession  ordinance  in  1861  was  152,151, 

6 


122  TnE    FUTURE. 

over  a  third  of  which  was  in  the  negative,  and  the 
negative  vote  was  not  confined  to  Eastern  Tonnes- 
Bee,  but  a  fair  proportion  of  it  was  cast  in  all  pa:ts 
of  the  State.  These  figures  show  that  there  was  a 
full  vote  upon  the  ordinance,  and  that  the  negative 
vote,  though  doubtless  affected  by  the  circumstances 
of  the  election,  was  not  excluded.  If  a  strong  cur 
rent  of  public  opinion  or  fear  of  personal  conse 
quences  deterred  any  considerable  number  of  people 
from  voting  in  the  negative,  they  could  not  have 
been  prevented  from  staying  away  from  the  polls, 
and  consequently  if  there  had  been  a  very  large 
party  opposed  to  secession,  the  result  would  have 
appeared  in  a  diminished  aggregate  vote.  In  Vir 
ginia  the  vote  for  President  in  1860  was  167,2^;], 
and  upon  the  ordinance  146,323,  of  which  20,373 
votes  were  cast  in  the  negative.  When  it  is  remem 
bered  that  all  of  Western  Virginia  was  then  occu 
pied  by  our  troops,  and  the  votes  of  that  region 
were  consequently  not  counted,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  figures  lead  substantially  to  the  same  result  as 
in  Tennessee. 

As  has  already  been  intimated,  the  collision  of 
arms  could  not  fail  at  once  substantially  to  extin 
guish  the  Union  party  in  the  South.  In  truth  it 
accomplished  more.  The  original  opponents  of 
secession  would  deem  themselves  at  once  called 
upon,  actively  to  participate  in  what  they  regarded 
as  a  righteous  war  of  self-defence,  against  an  attempt 


THE    FUTURE.  123 

on  the  part  of  our  Government  to  accomplish  by 
the  conquest  of  their  country  the  overthrow  of  pub 
lic  liberty.  No  doubt  there  were  some  who  re 
mained  unconvinced  and  dissatisfied.  But  they 
constituted  throughout  the  South  generally  too 
insignificant  a  proportion  of  the  population  to  pro 
duce  any  effect  upon  the  course  of  public  affairs,  or 
even  to  raise  their  voice  above  the  din  of  arms. 
The  mass  of  their  fellow-citizens,  however  great 
might  have  been  originally  their  disapproval  of  the 
measures  which  led  to  the  collision,  and  their  want 
of  confidence  in  the  men  by  whom  those  measures 
were  carried  through  to  their  consummation,  found 
themselves  compelled  by  their  ideas  of  duty,  patriot 
ism,  self-interest  and  self-protection,  to  join  heartily 
and  actively  in  supporting  their  new  government  in 
its  struggle  for  independence.  Our  own  Congress 
having  disclaimed,  by  the  passage  of  the  Crittenden 
resolution,  any  design  in  prosecuting  the  war  incon 
sistent  with  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  the 
people  of  the  Xorth  found  themselves  impelled  by 
the  operation  of  precisely  the  same  causes,  to  give 
their  united  support  to  the  Government  of  the 
Union,  irrespective  of  differences  of  opinion  touch 
ing  the  conduct  of  the  Administration,  and  the  men 
of  whom  it  was  composed.  And  thus  each  section 
confronted  the  other  in  battle  array,  substantially 
with  the  united  strength  of  its  whole  people. 


124  THE    FUTURE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Effects  of  the  Policy  thus  far  pursued  by  our  Government  towards 
the  People  of  the  South  —  The  "  Anti-Rosewater  "  Military 
Policy  —  The  Penal,  Confiscation  and  Exclusion  Statutes  —  Result 
of  those  Measures  in  arousing  the  Resentment  and  Hatred  of  the 
Southern  People  —  Falsity  of  the  Theory  that  the  Masses  at  the 
South  will  regard  with  complacency  the  Ruin  and  Outlawry  of 
their  principal  Citizens  —  Exaggerated  Effects  attributed  at  the 
North  to  Dissensions  between  the  Confederate  Authorities  and 
their  People  —  Practical  Results  of  the  Policy  of  Severity  in  the 
Districts  which  we  have  already  conquered. 


know,  not  from  conjecture  but  from  positive 
evidence,  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  those 
southerners  who  could  discover  no  course  of  action 
consistent  with  their  ideas  of  duty  and  of  self-pro 
tection,  "but  to  unite  with  the  rest  of  their  fellow- 
citizens  in  prosecuting  the  war,  did  so  with  extreme 
reluctance,  and  in  the  hope,  desperate  as  it  might 
seem,  that  some  avenue  of  reconciliation  might  yet 
be  opened.  But  such  a  hope,  and  even  such  a 
desire,  was  speedily  extinguished,  partly  by  events 
which  were  the  natural  consequence  of  a  civil  war, 
and  partly  by  an  unwise  legislative,  executive  and 
military  policy  pursued  by  us,  which  will  be  the 
subject  of  comment  in  this  chapter. 


THE    FUTURE.  125 

At  the  commencement  of  the  struggle,  great 
pains  were  taken,  by  order  of  the  President,  to 
observe  the  usages  of  modern  warfare  in  our  inva 
sion  of  the  southern  territory,  and  our  commanders 
were  instructed  to  assure  the  southern  people,  by 
acts  and  by  words,  that  we  meditated  no  infringe 
ment  upon  their  constitutional  'rights,  and  were 
animated  by  no  spirit  towards  them  inconsistent 
with  the  restoration  of  those  fraternal  feelings, 
which  were  then  deemed  essential  to  the  existence 
of  our  form  of  Government.  But  the  whole  South 
was  soon  filled  with  the  mourning  relatives  of  those 
slain  in  battle,  and  with  tales  of  suffering  from  the 
waste  and  destruction,  which  are  inevitable  accom 
paniments  of  the  passage  of  ill-disciplined  armies 
through  a  hostile  territory.  The  sympathy  excited 
by  the  tears  of  mothers,  widows,  and  children,  and 
the  distress  of  families  plunged  at  once  from  com 
fort  and  opulence  into  destitution,  could  not  fail  to 
be  joined  with  a  deep  feeling  of  indignation  against 
those  by  whom  these  acts  were  perpetrated,  in  a 
lawless  attempt,  as  the  southerner  regarded  it,  to 
prosecute  a  scheme  of  conquest  of  his  country. 
Increased  and  constantly  renewed  by  fresh  appeals 
to  his  sympathy,  and  a  constant  widening  of  the 
circle  of  sufferers,  this  feeling  would  naturally 
become  intensified  into  active  hatred  of  the  authors 
of  these  misfortunes,  and  a  burning  desire  for  ven 
geance  upon  them. 


126  THE    FUTURE. 

More  fuel  was  added  to  the  fire  by  the  language 
of  many  of  the  newspapers,  civil  and  military 
officials,  and  other  representatives  of  public  opinion 
among  us.  The  war  produced  its  natural  effect 
in  increasing  their  hatred  towards  the  South, 
which  found  vent  in  the  most  intemperate  invec 
tives  against  the  people  of  that  region,  and  fero 
cious  threats  of  servile  insurrection,  indiscriminate 
slaughter,  and  spoliation  during  the  war,  and 
judicial  massacres  and  political  degradation  in  case 
of  its  successful  termination.  The  newspapers  and 
public  speakers  of  the  South,  actuated  by  a  pre 
cisely  similar  spirit,  carefully  culled  and  spread 
before  their  readers  the  choicest  of  these  flowers  of 
rhetoric,  and  retorted  upon  their  opponents  by 
similar  denunciations,  taunts  and  insults,  which 
formed  the  occasion  of  renewed  outbursts  of  fury 
on  the  part  of  the  latter.  This  process  was  repeated 
ad  wfiniturri)  till  the  people  of  each  region  were 
taught  to  consider  the  people  of  the  other  as  fero 
cious,  blood-thirsty,  and  implacable  enemies,  bent 
upon  gratifying  the  most  cruel  instincts  of  savage 
hatred  without  restraint  from  the  laws  of  man 
or  the  laws  of  God.  And  in  truth  the  South  was 
soon  able  to  point  to  more  than  words  as  evidence 
that  such  were  the  feelings  of  the  North.  The 
policy  of  moderation  and  restraint  at  first  imposed 
upon  our  troops,  was  attacked  with  the  utmost 
vehemence  by  men  and  presses  whose  counsels 


THE    FUTURE.  127 

ultimately  became  dominant,  and  so  the  "  rose- 
water  system  of  warfare,"  as  it  was  called,  was 
abandoned,  and  the  doctrine  introduced  that  "rebels 
have  no  rights  which  even  a  negro  is  bound  to 
respect."  A  shameful  series  of  outrages  ensued,  I 
hope  not  with  the  direct  sanction  of  the  Executive, 
but  with  the  sanction  of  his  most  trusted  advisers 
and  commanders,  and  without  rebuke,  punishment, 
or  check  from  himself.*  Their  horrors  for  a 


*  I  regret  my  inability  to  exonerate  the  President  in 
stronger  terms  than  I  have  employed,  from  responsibility 
for  the  inauguration  of  the  barbarous  system  of  warfare, 
which  for  a  time  disgraced  the  nation  ;  but  General  Pope 
was  his  chosen  commander  and  trusted  friend,  and  in  daily, 
almost  hourly,  communication  with  him,  while  the  "  anti- 
rosewater  policy  "  was  in  operation  in  Virginia.  That  the 
excesses  to  which  it  led  were  contemplated  either  by  the 
President  or  his  general,  I  have  no  rea?on  to  believe  ;  but 
they  might  have  been  and  should  have  been  foreseen,  and  I 
know  of  none,  even  of  the  worst  offenders,  being  punished. 

I  do  not  overlook  the  fact  that  the  Confederate  forces 
were  guilty  in  the  early  stages  of  the  war  of  excesses  of  the 
same  character  ;  although  their  conduct  in  the  Maryland 
and  Pennsylvania  invasions  refutes  the  charge  that  they 
only  wanted  an  equally  extensive  field  of  operations  to  pro 
duce  an  equally  disgraceful  record.  I  am  merely  consider 
ing  the  effect  which  such  acts  on  our  part  would  naturally 
produce  upon  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  South — an 
effect  which  would  not  be  diminished  by  proof,  were  it  pos 
sible  to  make  it,  that  their  own  forces  had  committed 
equally  atrocious  excesses.  The  indignation  which  has  been 
aroused  at  the  North  by  stories  of  outrages  of  the  same 
kind  committed  by  their  troops,  has  not  been  at  all  dimin- 


128  THE    FUTURE. 

time  made  the  title  of  American  citizen  a  by-word 
and  reproach  throughout  the  civilized  world,  and 
ultimately  caused  a  reaction  in  public  opinion 
among  ourselves,  which  has  led,  it  is  hoped  perma 
nently,  to  their  suppression.  But  it  is  their  effect 
upon  that  portion  of  the  southern  people  who 
regretted  the  continuance  of  the  war,  and  looked 
for  reconciliation  and  reunion,  that  I  have  princi 
pally  to  consider.  It  may  well  be  imagined  with 
what  emotions  they  would  hear  the  sad  history — 
how  not  only  isolated  dwellings  and  public  build 
ings,  but  whole  villages  and  cities  were  wantonly 
burned  to  the  ground ;  public  and  private  libraries 
scattered  to  the  winds ;  scientific  collections  and 
apparatus  destroyed ;  churches  sacked  and  profaned 
with  every  conceivable  insult  to  the  majesty  of  God ; 
elegant  mansions  pillaged  of  their  contents,  the 
family  paintings  and  rich  furniture  hacked  to 
pieces  or  burned ;  the  jewels,  pianos,  and  even 
dresses  of  the  ladies  carried  away  (frequently  by 
officers  of  high  rank) ;  the  crops,  orchards,  and  agri 
cultural  instruments  of  the  farmers  destroyed ; 
cattle  and  other  farming  stock  killed  in  very  wan 
tonness  when  it  could  not  be  consumed ;  robbery, 
abuse,  insults,  not  unfrequently  murder,  perpetrated 

ished  by  the  fact  that  we  have  retaliated  these  injuries, 
either  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  than  we  have  received 
them,  and  the  same  effect  "mutatis  mutandis"  would  be 
produced  upon  the  southern  people. 


THE    FUTURE.  1^ 

upon  unoffending  non-combatants;  in  short,  of  every 
horror  which  attended  the  marches  of  Tilly  and 
WalletJstein,  except  one  crowning  disgrace,  from 
which  the  early  education  of  all  Americans  saved 
us,  that  of  outrages  upon  women.  And  while  so 
much  of  our  open  warfare  has  been  of  this  savage 
character,  the  conduct  of  many  of  the  pro-consuls, 
to  whose  arbitrary  rule  the  people  of  such  regions 
as  we  have  conquered  have  been  delivered  up,  has 
been  such  as  to  intensify  the  feelings  which  the 
excesses  of  our  marching  armies  aroused ;  to  satisfy 
the  southern  people  that  our  tender  mercies  to  the 
vanquished  were  even  more  to  be  dreaded  than  our 
hostility  to  those  who  resisted ;  and  to  convince 
those  who  had  entered  with  doubt  and  reluctance 
into  the  struggle,  that  their  leaders  had  not  misap 
prehended  or  misrepresented  the  malignancy  of  the 
northern  people  towards  them. 

But  our  national  Executive  and  our  national  legis 
lature  removed  all  doubt,  if  any  yet  remained  in  the 
southern  mind,  that  there  was  no  hope  of  personal 
safety  or  of  political  liberty  in  the  future,  except  in 
successful  resistance.  The  former  issued  the  eman 
cipation  proclamation,  in  which  he  announced  the 
intention  to  guaranty  to  the  negroes  FOREVER,  that 
liberty  which  he  could  only  permanently  secure  to 
them  by  an  overthrow  of  the  State  constitutions,  and 
an  abolition  of  the  right  of  self-government.  The 
latter,  in  a  series  of  acts  justly  styled  "  incendiary 


130  THE    FUTURE. 

and  infernal "  by  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  the 
dominant  majority,  closed  the  door  of  return  in  the 
faces  of  the  southern  people.  Abolition  of  slavery 
being  the  first  subject  of  their  attention,  laws  were 
passed  to  accomplish  indirectly  that  object  in  every 
conceivable  method,  short  of  an  act  of  direct  eman 
cipation,  the  unconstitutionally  of  which  had  been 
declared  by  Congress  in  the  days  when  the  true 
policy  of  the  nation  was  supposed  to  be  to  restore  a 
Union,  resting  "  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed." 
But  destruction  of  the  slave  property  of  the  citizens 
of  the  seceded  States,  irrespective  of  their  actual 
complicity  in  the  rebellion,  was  not  sufficient.  Pro 
vision  was  made  to  strip  every  man  who  had  been 
engaged  in  the  rebellion,  no  matter  what  might  be 
his  social  or  military  rank,  of  everything  which  he 
possessed  ;  to  render  the  tenure  of  the  lives  and 
liberties  of  a  whole  people  dependent  upon  execu 
tive  clemency  ;  and  to  complete  their  political  and 
social  degradation  even  beyond  the  reach  of  execu 
tive  clemency.  The  severity  of  the  punishment  of 
treason,  and  the  rules  of  evidence  applicable  to 
trials  for  that  crime,  rendered  it  certain  that  if  the 
rebellion  was  suppressed,  only  the  few  leaders  could 
be  punished.  Hence  to  reach  all  classes  of  the 
community,  an  act  was  passed  in  July,  1861,  to 
punish  a  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the  Government, 
by  a  fine  of  from  five  hundred  to  five  thousand  dol 
lars,  and  imprisonment  from  six  months  to  six 


THE    FUTURE. 


years  ;  and  in  the  succeeding  year,  full  provision 
-was  made  for  the  punishment  of  every  case  from 
"assisting"  any  rebellion  up  to  actual  treason,  by 
fines  and  imprisonments  graduated  according  to  the 
offence  and  in  the  discretion  of  the  court.  A 
sweeping  system  of  confiscation  was  also  estab 
lished.  At  first,  provision  was  made  whereby  each 
State's  proportionate  share  of  the  direct  tax,  was  to 
be  levied  upon  the  real  estate  within  any  district 
which  might  be  occupied  by  our  forces,  and  the 
property  was  to  be  sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  and 
not  to  be  redeemed  without  proof  that  the  owner 
had  taken  no  part  in  the  insurrection.  This  was  of 
itself  a  very  ingenious  scheme  for  rewarding  the 
loyal  and  punishing  the  rebellious  at  the  same  time. 
But  a  more  sweeping  statute  for  that  purpose  was 
soon  passed,  whereby  all  the  property  of  those  who 
did  not  return  to  their  allegiance  within  sixty  days 
after  a  proclamation  (which  has  been  issued),  was 
forfeited,  and  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  President 
to  seize  and  sell  it,  and  apply  the  proceeds  to  the 
support  of  the  army. 

Such  acts  would  be  considered  bad  policy  in  any 
constitutional  monarchical  government,  endeavoring 
to  suppress  a  rebellion  ;  but  one  would  suppose  that 
even  a  despotism  would  endeavor  to  make  it  for  the 
interest  of  rebels  to  abandon  or  betray  their  asso 
ciates,  and  for  that  purpose  would  desire  in  some 
cases  to  grant  a  full  amnesty  for  all  offences,  and  to 


132  TIIE   FUTURE. 

appoint  the  repentant  rebel  to  office.  But  oui 
legislature  has  provided  that  even  the  President 
and  the  people  of  the  whole  nation  shall  be  unable 
to  bestow  a  public  office  upon  any  person,  who  has 
been  in  any  way,  no  matter  how  remote,  impli 
cated  in  the  rebellion ;  nor  can  such  a  man  ever 
serve  as  a  juror  in  any  of  the  Federal  courts.  By 
the  act  of  June  17,  1862,  it  is  a  ground  of  disquali 
fication  to  any  juror,  not  only  that  he  has  himself 
been  engaged  in  the  rebellion,  but  that  he  has  "  given, 
directly  or  indirectly,  any  assistance  in  money,  &c., 
or  anything  whatever,  to  or  for  the  use  or  benefit" 
of  any  person  whom  he  knew  to  be  a  rebel  or  to  be 
about  to  become  a  rebel ;  and  the  act  of  July  2, 1862, 
provides  that  no  person  can  hold  office  without 
taking  an  oatli  that  he  has  never  borne  arms  against 
the  United  States,  or  "  given  aid,  countenance, 
counsel,  or  encouragement  to  persons  engaged  in 
armed  hostility  thereto." 

It  is  manifest  that  these  acts  cover  the  case  of 
nearly  every  individual  within  the  limits  of  the 
seceding  States,  south  of  the  Tennessee  line  and 
east  of  the  Blue  Hidge;  and  that  the  result  has 
necessarily  been  to  join  despair  to  supposed  patriot 
ism,  love  of  liberty,  pride,  self-respect,  self-interest, 
and  human  sympathy,  in  inspiring  the  people  of  the 
South  with  the  resolution  to  endure  every  sacrifice 
in  the  struggle  for  independence,  rather  than  to 
suffer  the  degradation,  tyranny  and  ruin  which  sub- 


THK    FUTURE.  133 

mission  to  the  Government  of  the  Union  would 
bring  upon  them. 

Is  it  possible  to  remove  this  feeling  and  to  arouse 
anew  in  the  hearts  of  the  southern  people  that  affec 
tion  for  the  Union  and  loyalty  to  its  Government 
which  prevailed  among  them  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  rebellion  ?  This  is  a  grave  problem,  the  solu 
tion  of  which  will  require  the  patient  and  cautious 
labor  of  the  ablest,  purest,  wisest  and  most  mode 
rate  statesmen.  I  shall  throw  out  in  the  con 
cluding  chapter  a  few  suggestions,  which  may  assist 
the  reader  in  forming  some  conclusion  as  to  the 
practicability  and  the  proper  mode  of  attaining  such 
a  result.  For  the  present  I  must  confine  myself  to 
such  observations,  as  will  show  that  it  never  can  be 
attained  by  the  policy  which  we  are  now  pursuing. 
And  first,  let  me  glance  at  the  theory,  which  is  held 
by  many,  that  the  miseries  and  calamities  which 
the  rebellion  has  brought  upon  the  people,  and  its 
failure  to  attain  success,  will  turn  a  current  of  pub 
lic  indignation  against  the  leaders  of  the  insurrec 
tion,  and  lead  the  masses  to  cling  to  the  old  Govern 
ment  as  the  source  of  the  prosperity  and  happiness 
which  they  formerly  enjoyed,  and  which  they  will 
expect  to  see  equalled  or  even  exceeded  in  the 
future. 

I  have  repeatedly  said  that  I  should  not  discues 
the  conduct  or  the  deserts  of  the  leading  southern 
politicians,  and  the  same  reasons  which  led  me  to 


134:  TILE    FUTURE. 

refrain  from  so  doing,  will  exclude  from  my  consi 
deration  the  question,  whether  it  is  possible  by  any 
line  of  policy  which  we  may  adopt,  so  to  separate 
the  feelings  and  interests  of  the  people,  from  those 
of  the  few  leaders  who  rendered  themselves  most 
prominent  before  the  war  broke  out,  that  the  former 
would  look  with  complacency  upon  the  ruin  of  the 
latter  as  the  result  of  a  rebellion  instigated  by  them. 
.For  that  question  is  wholly  irrelevant  to  the  pre 
sent  subject  of  inquiry.  The  policy  which  I  am 
condemning  does  not  contemplate  the  punishment  of 
a  few  of  the  leading  conspirators  merely — for  the 
former  laws  punishing  the  crime  of  treason  were 
ample  and  more  than  ample  for  that  purpose — but 
its  object  is  to  reach  all  classes  of  the  community. 
.~N"ot  that  I  suppose  that  its  authors  intend  actually 
to  line,  imprison,  or  execute  all  the  white  people  of 
the  southern  States,  but  they  evidently  do  intend 
to  strip  a  great  part  of  them  of  their  property  ;  to 
render  them  all  incapable  of  holding  office  ;  to  pun 
ish  criminally  such  of  them  as  they  shall  select  as  fit 
objects  of  their  revenge  ;  and  to  hold  a  sword  for 
ever  suspended  over  the  heads  of  every  man  who 
shall  be  spared,  to  fall  whenever  his  conduct  shall 
fail  to  meet  the  approbation  of  those  in  power. 
Else  why  were  the  laws  passed  ;  and  why  are  the 
confiscation  acts  being  daily  put  into  operation  in 
such  regions  of  the  country  as  we  have  conquered?* 

*  I  have  heard  the  policy  of  these  laws  defended  by  men 


THE    FUTURE,  135 

It  is  evident  that  the  result  of  carrying  out  such  a 
policy  will  be,  as  it  has  been  heretofore,  to  identify 
the  people  in  feeling  with  the  leaders  against  whom 

who  freely  concede  the  impossibility  of  putting  them  into 
practical  operation  after  the  rebellion  shall  have  been, 
quelled,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  temporarily  neces 
sary  to  prevent  disloyal  men  from  filling  public  office  while 
the  war  was  progressing,  and  to  increase  the  motives  for 
the  insurgents  to  return  to  their  allegiance.  If  it  was  con 
ceded  that  they  were  merely  temporary  measures,  many  of 
the  objections  to  them  would  be  removed,  for  the  discussion 
respecting  the  policy  of  such  laws  would  be  confined  simply 
to  their  effect  upon  the  duration  of  the  war,  a  subject 
which  I  have  considered  already.  But  they  are  in  no  sense 
temporary  by  their  terms,  and  although  the  President  has 
been  authorized  by  one  of  them,  "  to  extend  to  persons  who 
may  have  participated  in  the  existing  rebellion  pardon  and 
amnesty,"  the  power  to  dispense  with  the  two  test-oaths  has 
not  been  confided  even  to  him  ;  and  many  of  those  who  en 
acted  the  penal  and  confiscation  laws,  and  sustain  the  policy 
which  they  indicate,  openly  support  them  as  permanent 
measures,  indicating  a  permanent  policy  towards  the  peo 
ple  to  be  conquered.  The  reader  will  find  a  few  pages 
further  on  an  extract  from  a  speech  of  General  Butler,  in 
which  he  announces  as  his  plan  of  pacification  that  the  pro 
perty  of  all  who  have  taken  part  in  the  rebellion  shall  be 
divided  among  the  volunteer  soldiers  of  our  army.  The 
proofs  that  the  laws  in  question  are  regarded  by  many  pub 
lic  men  as  the  permanent  policy  of  the  Government,  might 
be  indefinitely  multiplied,  but  my  space  confines  me  to  two 
short  extracts  from  "  Our  Domestic  Relations,"  which  will 
at  least  satisfy  the  reader  that  I  am  not  fighting  a  shadow. 
Mr.  Sumner  says  :  "  Holding  every  acre  of  soil,  and  every 
inhabitant  of  these  States  within  its  jurisdiction,  Congress 
can  easily  do,  by  proper  legislation,  whatever  may  be  need 
ful  witliia  rebel  limits  in  order  to  assure  freedom  and  save 


136  THE    FUTURE. 

it  is  expected  that  their  indignation  will  be  directed. 
»A  tolerable  familiarity  with  the  workings  of  human 
nature  and  the  lessons  of  history,  will  show  that 
the  result  will  be  precisely  the  reverse  of  that  which 
was  anticipated  from  their  enactment.  Among  a 
people  thus  consolidated  by  common  suffering  and 
a  common  political  ostracism,  the  man  who  has 
suffered  most  in  the  common  cause,  will  be  the  man 
who  will  arouse  the  deepest  emotions  of  reverence, 
admiration,  and  affection,  and  his  martyrdom  will 
efface  the  memory  of  all  his  faults  and  all  his 
crimes.  Men  are  never  convinced  that  opinions 
are  erroneous  by  persecution  and  suffering.  And 
if  we  wish  to  make  the  name  of  Davis  awaken  in 
the  hearts  of  the  present  and  future  generations  of 
southerners,  the  emotions  which  that  of  Emmett 
awakens  in  the  hearts  of  Irishmen,  the  true  method 
to  attain  the  object  is  to  execute  him  and  enforce 
the  savage  penal  and  confiscation  laws  against  the 
citizens  of  the  South. 

society.  The,  soil  may  be  divided  among  patriot  soldiers,  poor 
whites,  and  freed  men."  Further  on,  after  reciting  the  sub 
stance  of  the  disqualifying  acts  he  adds  :  "  This  oath  will 
be  a  bar  against  the  return  to  national  office  of  ANY  who 
have  TAKEN  PART  with  the  rebels.  It  shuts  out  in  advance 
the  whole  criminal  gang.  But  these  same  persons  rejected 
by  the  national  Government  are  left  free  to  hold  office  in 
the  States  ;  and  he-re  is  a  motive  to  further  action  by  Con 
gress.  The  oath  is  well  as  far  as  it  goes  :  more  must  be 
done  in  the  same  spirit  " 


THE    FUTURE.  137 

Nor  will  the  case  be  altered  if  the  poorer  classes 
of  the  community  are  suffered  to  retain  their  lives, 
liberties,  and  humble  property,  and  the  penalties  of 
the  confiscation  laws  (either  with  or  without  those 
of  the  penal  laws)  are  visited  only  upon  the  princi 
pal  citizens  of  each  neighborhood.  For  the  South 
is  preeminently  not  one  of  those  communities  in 
which  the  rich  and  the  poor  occupy  a  position  of  an 
tagonism  with  respect  to  each  other.  That  antago 
nism,  which  the  institutions  of  all  other  countries 
develop  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  is  replaced  in 
the  South  by  an  antagonism  of  race.  The  preva 
lence  of  universal  suffrage,  in  connection  with  the 
existence  of  slavery,  has  created  a  species  of  aristo 
cracy  of  color,  in  the  real  or  fancied  glories  of  which 
all  of  the  whites  have  participated,  and  which  has 
served  to  bind  them  together  in  a  species  of  clan 
ship.  Hence,  whatever  exceptions  may  exist  in 
isolated  cases  to  tlie  general  rule,  the  ruin  of  the 
principal  men,  so  far  from  awakening  a  feeling  of 
complacency  in  the  hearts  of  their  fellow-citizens, 
will  excite  only  the  sympathy  of  the  latter,  and  com 
passion  for  their  sufferings  will  be  mingled  with 
hatred  of  the  Government  which  inflicted  them, 
and  of  those  who  will  profit  by  the  misfortunes  of 
martyrs  to  a  common  cause.  Nothing  but  radical 
antagonism  of  class  could  produce  any  other  result. 

Indeed,  the  idea  of  having  been  blindly  led  into 
the  commission  of  a  political  folly  by  the  sophistry 


138  THE    FUTURE. 

and  misrepresentations  of  a  superior,  is  one  of  the 
most  offensive  which  can  possibly  be  presented  to 
the  mind  of  a  free  citizen  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  at 
the  North  or  at  the  South.  His  pride — perhaps  it 
might  be  rather  styled  his  conceit — revolts  at  the 
suggestion  that  he  has  been  made  a  tool  in  the 
hands  of  another,  and  impels  him  to  defend  the  wis 
dom  and  propriety  of  the  course  which  he  has  pur 
sued,  and  to  regard  every  circumstance  which  is 
urged  as  a  demonstration  of  its  folly,  as  patent 
proof  to  the  contrary.  I  suppose  that,  no  man  will 
contend  that  even  if  the  rebellion  had  resulted  in 
the  South  conquering  us,  the  mass  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  would  have  rejoiced  at  the  execution 
or  the  ruin  of  the  leading  politicians  who  urged 
them,  in  1860,  to  bid  defiance  to  the  threats  of  the 
South  ;  laughed  at  the  suggestion  that  civil  war 
would  ensue  as  the  result  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  ; 
and  assured  them  that  the  only  fight  which  we 
should  have  would  be  a  contest  among  the  southern 
ers  for  the  offices  at  his  disposal.  Much  less  would 
they  have  sympathized  with  the  spoliation  of  the 
property-owners  among  their  own  neighbors.  The 
case  supposed  would  not  have  been  at  all  beyond 
the  limits  of  possibility,  had  the  war  been  followed 
by  foreign  intervention,  and  it  will  present  precisely 
the  same  case  which  will  occur  in  the  South  after 
its  conquest,  when  the  penal  and  confiscation  laws 
shall  be  enforced  against  the  men  who  have  at- 


THE    FUTURE.  139 

tained  social,  political,  or  financial  preeminence  in 
their  respective  neighborhoods. 

The  vindictive  policy,  which  we  have  thus  adopted 
as  the  foundation  of  the  future  relations  between  us 
and  the  southern  people,  after  the  war  shall  be 
closed,  must  necessarily  stifle  any  attempts,  pend 
ing  the  war,  to  organize  a  peace  party  in  the 
southern  States,  if  any  disposition  to  do  so  exists 
in  consequence  of  the  subsidence  of  the  angry 
passions  which  were  at  first  aroused,  and  the  ap 
parently  impending  failure  of  the  insurrection. 
It  has  already,  in  all  probability,  produced  that 
result  in  North  Carolina,  in  portions  of  which 
State  the  nucleus  of  an  organization  was  formed, 
having  as  its  object,  not  the  unconditional  submis 
sion  of  the  South,  but  the  inception  of  negotiations 
for  the  purpose  of  agreeing  upon  terms  of  submis 
sion.  We  have  no  jneans  of  determining  with  exact 
accuracy  why  the  project  was  abandoned,  but  there 
are  adequate  reasons  for  its  abandonment,  which,  in 
the  absence  of  certain  information,  wTe  must  con- 
jecturally  assign  as  those  which  prevailed.  It  is 
hardly  possible  that  the  men  by  whom  this  project 
was  inaugurated,  comprising  the  governor  and  seve 
ral  of  the  members  of  the  North  Carolina  legisla 
ture,  should  ever  have  contemplated  a  voluntary 
submission  to  a  government  which  had  already 
excluded  them  forever  from  public  office  and  from 
the  juries  in  its  courts,  and  offered  them  no  other 


140  THE    FUTURE. 

terms  tlian  enforcement  of  the  penal  and  confisca 
tion  laws,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  right  of  self- 
government  implied  in  the  emancipation  proclama 
tion.* 

The  fact  that  the  door  to  the  restoration  of  such 
a  union  as  formerly  existed  has  been  effectually 
closed,  is  continually  overlooked  by  our  people 
when  speculating  upon  the  present  as  well  as  the 
future  disposition  of  the  people  of  the  South,  to  end 
the  war  by  submission  to  the  Government.  Hence 
they  overestimate  the  significance  of  those  jars  in 
the  working  of  the  machinery  of  the  revolutionary 
government,  which  are  continually  occurring  in 
every  country  in  times  of  great  public  excitement, 
and  from  which  our  own  section  of  the  country  is 
only  comparatively  more  exempt  than  the  other. 
Riots  in  the  leading  southern  cities,  evasions  of  and 
acts  of  violent  resistance  to  the  Confederate  con 
scription  law  ;  collisions  of  opinion  between  the  cen 
tral  Government  and  the  governments  of  the  States ; 
dissatisfaction  with  particular  measures  or  the  gene 
ral  policy  of  the  Confederate  administration,  ex 
pressed  in  emphatic  terms  through  the  public  press 
or  upon  the  rostrum  ;  the  unpopularity  of  certain 
officers,  civil  or  military  ;  the  longing  for  peace 

*  The  exceptions  in  the  President's  proclamation  of 
amnesty,  dated  December  eighth,  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-three,  will  exclude  from  pardon  most  of  the  men  who 
were  said  to  be  the  leaders  in  this  movement. 


THE    FUTURE. 


which  evidently  pervades  all  classes  of  the  people  ; 
occasional  acts  of  mutiny  and  insubordination  in 
the  Confederate  army  ;  flattering  stories  of  desert 
ers,  refugees  and  "  intelligent  contrabands  "  anxious 
to  propitiate  favor  in  their  new  homes  ;  individual 
acts  of  Christian  charity  and  human  sympathy 
towards  prisoners  of  war  captured  from  us  ;  kindly 
intercourse  between  the  soldiers  of  both  armies  ; 
and  the  occasional  discovery  of  an  unquestionable 
unionist  in  the  South  ;  all  these  things  have  been 
so  exaggerated  by  our  credulous  people,  that  the 
belief  that  the  southern  people  are  suffering  from  a 
military  despotism  which  they  are  eagerly  longing 
to  shake  off,  still  retains,  absurdly  enough,  a  hold 
upon  the  minds  of  many  men,  who,  in  cases  in 
which  their  feelings  and  hopes  are  not  so  strongly 
enlisted,  are  cool  and  sagacious  observers.* 

These  men  overlook  the  fact  that  when  the  for 
tunes  of  the  war  were  apparently  against  us,  a  very 
similar  state  of  things  was  continually  occurring 
upon  our  side  of  the  lines,  and  that  to  a  considera 
ble  extent  we  can  yet  match  the  same  indications 
of  popular  discontent  in  the  South  with  similar  inci 
dents  of  our  own  history.  In  truth  the  South  has 
had  nearly  if  not  quite  as  much  reason  to  believe 
from  external  indications  that  we  are  crushed  by  a 
military  despotism,  which  the  majority  of  our  peo- 

*  See  Note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter,  page  152. 


THE    FUTURE. 


pie  are  longing  to  throw  off,  as  we  have  to  enter- 
tain  the  same  belief  concerning  them.  In  the  South 
as  well  as  in  the  Xorth  the  proof  that  the  hearts  of 
the  people  are  yet  in  the  war,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  the  war  is  sustained  by  the  representatives 
of  the  people  elected  at  frequently  recurring  inter 
vals. 

As  an  ounce  of  experience  is  said  to  be  worth  a 
pound  of  theory,  let  rne  now  consider  whether  our 
occupation  of  certain  portions  of  the  southern  terri 
tory,  furnishes  us  with  any  indications  concerning 
the  probability  of  regaining  the  affections  of  the 
people,  by  the  policy  which  we  have  been  pursuing. 
We  have  a  few  data  from  which  to  form  an  opinion 
upon  that  subject,  but  they  will  enable  us  only  to 
approximate  to  correctness,  for  we  have  not  yet 
occupied  any  portion  of  the  southern  country,  under 
the  same  conditions  which  will  present  themselves 
when  we  shall  have  subdued  and  occupied  the 
whole,  and  this  for  the  reason  that  the  intellectual 
and  physical  flower  of  the  people  fled  before  us 
when  the  Confederate  army  retired,  except  in  the 
State  of  Tennessee,  where  a  peculiarity  of  circum 
stances  has  existed  which  will  mislead  us,  if  we  take 
that  State  as  a  standard  of  comparison.  For  the  peo 
ple  of  Tennessee,  as  late  as  the  ninth  of  February, 
1861,  declared  in  favor  of  remaining  in  the  Union 
by  a  vote  of  nearly  four  to  one,  notwithstanding 


THE    FUTURE. 


that  the  Gulf  States  had  then  seceded.*  And  the 
comparatively  early  occupation  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  State  by  our  forces  ;  the  exemption  of  the 
inhabitants  from  many  of  the  mortifications  of  con 
quest  by  the  embodiment  of  Tennessee  troops  in  the 
army  of  occupation  ;  the  comparative  discipline,  good 
order,  and  respect  for  private  property  which  have 
characterized  the  military  administration  ;  and  above 
all,  the  assurance,  implied  by  the  exemption  of  their 
State  from  the  emancipation  proclamation,  that 
they  will  ultimately  be  permitted  to  govern  them 
selves,  have  subjected  the  Tennesseans  only  in  a 
minor  degree  to  the  operation  of  those  causes 
which  have  elsewhere  influenced  the  southern  peo 
ple.  So  that  although  thousands  0f  her  most  valued 
citizens  have  fled  the  State  and  cast  their  fortunes 
with  the  Confederates,  and  it  has  not  been  deemed 
safe  after  a  year  and  a  half  of  occupation  to  commit 
the  civil  government  to  the  hands  of  the  people,  it 
seems  probable  that  the  State  of  Tennessee  has  been 
permanently  saved  to  the  Union  with  the  approba 
tion  of  a  majority  of  its  inhabitants.  But  this 
result  is  not  due  to  the  general  policy  which  I  have 

*  The  vote  in  detail  was  as  follows  : 

Union.  Secession. 
East  Tennessee  .............  30,903  5,577 

Middle  Tennessee  ...........  36,809  9,828 

West  Tennessee  ............  24,091  9,344 


91,803  24,749 

Majority  for  the  Union,  67,054. 


THE    FUTURE. 


been  condemning.  It  lias  occurred  because  a  dif 
ferent  policy  has  been  pursued  in  that  State.  The 
people  of  Kentucky  are  almost  unanimous  in  their 
condemnation  of  the  measures  which  I  have  criti 
cised  ;  can  we  doubt  what  is  the  public  opinion  of 
Tennessee  respecting  them  ? 

Our  principal  acquisitions  in  Arkansas  are  too 
recent,  and  we  still  hold  too  little  of  North  Caro 
lina,  South  Carolina  or  Georgia,  to  render  popular 
indications  of  any  value  in  either  of  those  States  ; 
but  we  shall  find  a  tolerably  fair  indication  of  the 
probability  that  a  vindictive  policy  will  restore  the 
affections  of  the  southern  people  to  the  Union,  in 
the  results  which  ensued  from  pursuing  the  same 
policy  after  our  occupation  of  Louisiana.  New 
Orleans  was  captured  in  April,  1862,  and  the  policy 
of  severity  was  at  once  put  into  full  operation  by 
the  military  commander  of  that  department,  his 
theory  of  private  rights  under  martial  law  hav 
ing  been  stated  by  him  in  a  speech  delivered 
at  New  York  in  April,  1863,  in  the  following 
words  : 

"  They  "  (the  conquered  people,  whom  he  styles 
alien  enemies)  "have  the  right,  so  long  as  they 
behave  themselves  and  are  non-combatants,  to  be 
free  from  personal  violence  ;  they  have  no  other 
rights  /  and  therefore  it  was  my  duty  to  see  to  it, 
and  1  believe  the  record  will  show  that  I  did  see  to 
it  (great  applause  and  cheers).  I  did  see  to  it  that 


THE    FUTURE.  14-5 

order  was  preserved,  and  that  every  man  who  be 
haved  well  and  did  not  aid  the  Confederate  States 
should  not  be  molested  in  his  person.  I  held  every 
thing  else  they  had  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  con 
queror  (cheers).  .  .  .  Has  it  not  been  held  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  till  this  day,  from  the 
time  the  Israelites  took  possession  of  the  land  of 
Canaan,  which  they  got  from  alien  enemies,  has  it 
not  been  held  that  the  whole  property  of  those  alien 
enemies  belonged  to  the  conqueror,  and  that  it  has 
been  at  his  mercy  and  clemency  what  should  l)e  done 
with  it  f  For  one,  I  would  take  it  and  give  the 
loyal  man,  who  was  loyal  in  the  heart  of  the  South, 
enough  to  make  him  as  well  as  he  was  before,  and 
I  would  take  the  balance  of  it  and  distribute  it 
among  the  volunteer  soldiers  who  have  gone  (the 
remainder  of  the  sentence  wras  drowned  in  a  tre 
mendous  burst  of  applause)." 

Let  us  see  how  far  the  policy  thus  announced  has 
tended  to  produce  such  a  state  of  public  feeling  in 
Xew  Orleans,  as  to  authorize  us  to  expect  that  the 
loyalty  of  the  people  of  Louisiana  will  soon  be  suffi 
ciently  aroused,  to  enable  a  civil  government  to 
assume  the  reins  of  power  and  to  support  itself, 
without  relying  upon  the  military  forces  of  the 
Federal  Government,  by  the  voluntary  action  of 
the  citizens.  In  none  of  the  seceding  States  except 
Tennessee  was  there  a  district  in  which  we  should 
have  expected  to  find  as  large  a  proportion  of 

7 


146  'HIE  IUTCRE. 

Unionists  as  in  that  which  comprises  the  city  of 
New  Orleans.  A  considerable  proportion  of  the 
population  of  that  city  has  always  consisted  of  men 
of  northern  birth  or  northern  education,  and  its 
commercial  and  financial  relations  with  the  North 
and  the  Northwest  have  been  of  such  an  intimate 
character,  as  to  render  it  the  first  and  greatest  suf 
ferer  by  the  war,  among  the  principal  cities  of  the 
South.  Very  soon  after  its  occupation,  its  citizens 
were  required  to  choose  between  taking  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Union,  and  registering  themselves 
as  "  enemies  of  the  United  States."  Large  num 
bers  took  the  oath,  many  no  doubt  from  sincere  con 
viction  and  with  a  purpose  to  keep  it  honestly, 
many  others  simply  because  they  had  to  choose 
between  doing  so  and  submitting  to  military  plun 
der  with  a  prospect  of  exile.  In  truth,  the  "  regis 
tered  enemies"  were  afterwards  exiled.  To  the 
immense  force  which  the  United  States  sent  to  the 
city  and  the  military  department,  were  added  seve 
ral  regiments  raised  in  Louisiana,  white  and  black, 
the  latter  consisting  chiefly  of  New  Orleans  negroes 
and  colored  people,  the  most  intelligent  of  the  black 
population  of  the  whole  South.  And  yet,  after  more 
than  a  year  of  occupation,  the  purification  of  the 
city  from  all  the  friends  of  the  rebellion  who  could 
be  discovered,  an  immense  influx  of  northern  men, 
and  the  transfer  of  the  chief  command  from  General 
Butler  to- a  gentleman  whose  humanity  and  modera- 


THE    FUTURE. 


tion  none  will  question,  it  is  found  necessary  for  the 
public  safety  and  the  preservation  of  public  order, 
notwithstanding  the  overwhelming  military  force 
within  the  city,  to  adopt  measures  even  more  strin 
gent  than  the  Austrian  military  regulations  in 
Venice.  Witness  the  following  order  : 

"  HEADQUARTERS  DEFENCES  OF  NEW  ORLEANS,  ) 
NEW  ORLEANS,  July  3d,  1803.  f 

"  GENERAL  ORDERS  Xo.  18. 

"Hereafter  no  public  assemblages,  except  for 
public  worship,  under  a  regular  commissioned  priest, 
will  be  allowed  in  this  city,  for  any  purpose  or 
under  any  pretence  whatever,  by  white  or  black, 
without  the  written  consent  of  the  commander  of 
the  defences  of  New  Orleans  :  and  no  more  than 
three  persons  will  be  allowed  to  assemble  or  congre 
gate  together  upon  the  streets  of  the  city.  When 
ever  more  than  that  number  are  found  together  by 
the  patrol,  they  shall  be  ordered  to  disperse,  and 
failing  to  do  so,  the  offenders  shall  be  placed  in 
arrest.  All  bar-rooms,  coffee-houses,  stores  and 
shops  of  every  description  will  be  closed  at  9  o'clock 
P.M.  All  club-rooms  and  gambling-houses  are  here 
by  closed  until  further  orders.  No  citizen  or  other 
person  except  the  police  and  officers  in  the  United 
States  service,  or  soldiers  on  duty  or  with  passes  are 
to  be  allowed  in  the  streets  after  9  o'clock  P.M. 

"  By  command  of  Brigadier-General  EMORY. 
"  W.  D.  SMITH,  Lieut.-CoL,  A.  A.  A.  G.'  • 


148  THE    FUTURE. 

So  much  for  the  progress  which  has  been  made 
in  re-kindling  the  extinguished  flame  of  loyalty  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Louisiana.  In  other 
regions  which  we  have  occupied  for  a  sufficient 
length  of  time  to  develop  public  sentiment,  the 
result  has  been  simply  the  depopulation  of  the 
country,  or  an  obstinate  refusal  to  acknowledge  the 
authority  of  the  Government-  by  any  participation 
in  the  administration  of  public  affairs.  In  the  city 
of  Norfolk,  two  hundred  and  forty  votes  were  cast 
for  mayor  at  the  spring  election  of  1863.  The  city 
contained  in  1860  a  population  of  eleven  thousand 
three  hundred  and  twenty-five,  exclusive  of  slaves, 
or  a  little  less  than  two  thousand  voters.  In  Alex 
andria,  our  first  capture,  nestling  under  the  very 
wing  of  the  Federal  Government,  the  successful 
candidate  for  the  mayoralty  received  at  the  same 
election  thirty-seven  votes  and  his  opponent  thirty- 
one.  The  city  contained  in  1860,  eight  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-two  inhabitants;  deduct 
ing  people  of  color,  the  voting  population  would  be 
between  twelve  and  fifteen  hundred. 

In  cities,  the  means  of  enforcing  strict  military 
law  and  the  habits  of  the  people  are  such,  that  it 
is  only  by  such  indications  as  I  have  mentioned 
that  it  is  possible  to  ascertain  the  real  feelings  of 
the  inhabitants.  In  the  rural  districts  there  have 
been  greater  facilities  for  determining  the  senti 
ments  of  the  people  by  their  conduct,  and  those 


THE    FUTURE.  149 

have  been  expressed  in  a  manner  which  renders 
it  impossible  to  mistake  them.  It  is  true  that  when 
resistance  has  become  hopeless,  we  have  been  able 
to  enforce  peaceable  submission ;  that  fear  has 
induced  many  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and 
that  occasionally  our  troops  have  fallen  in  with  men 
who  profess  themselves,  some  of  them '  doubtless 
with  sincerity,  to  be  our  friends,  and  render  UR 
services  which  secure  them  protection,  and  gene 
rally  lead  to  their  pecuniary  profit.  But  the  great 
body  of  the  people  have  been  too  sincere  to  feign 
what  they  do  not  feel ;  and  what  they  do  feel,  they 
have  expressed  so  as  to  render  it  evident  that  the 
Federal  rule  over  them  was  sustained  by  force  and 
fear  only ;  that  they  were  subdued,  not  regained  to 
the  Union;  that  their  country  was  subjugated,  not 
their  hearts.  Our  armies  have  been  received  upon 
their  arrival  with  the  sullenness  of  fear  and  hatred, 
and  with  the  most  unequivocal  assurances  in  words 
and  by  deeds  that  their  presence  was  accepted  as  a 
forced  necessity.  Even  the  love  of  gain  has  gene 
rally  proved  insufficient  to  induce  the  inhabitants 
voluntarily  to  supply  the  wants  of  our  men,  and 
the  stringent  laws  of  war  have  been  futile  to  restrain 
them  from  acting  as  spies  and  informers  for  the 
Confederate  army.  When  reverses  have  overtaken 
us  and  necessity  has  compelled  our  retreat,  the 
fierce  and  vindictive  exultation  of  the  people  has 
been  too  great  to  wear  a  mask ;  and  while  the  men 


150  THE 

who  remained  in  the  country  have  drawn  forth 
their  rifles  arid  fowling-pieces  from  hidden  recesses, 
and  sallied  forth  to  cut  off  stragglers,  not  even  the 
natural  timidity  of  the  sex  has  restrained  the  women 
along  the  line  of  march  from  heaping  curses  and 
taunts  upon  the  heads  of  their  hated  enemies  as  our 
forces  passed  by.  Neither  the  events  of  the  past, 
nor  the  light  which  they  cast  upon  the  dark  and 
momentous  future,  authorize  us  to  reject  as  exag 
gerations  the  statements  and  predictions  contained 
in  the  following  extracts  from  a  recently  published 
address  of  the  southern  clergymen  of  all  denomina 
tions,  to  Christians  throughout  the  world  : 

"  Though  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  have 
been  lost,  and  many  millions  of  treasure  spent; 
though  a  vast  amount  of  valuable  property  has 
been  destroyed,  and  numbers  of  once  happy  homes 
made  desolate ;  though  cities  and  towns  have  been 
temporarily  captured,  and  aged  men  and  helpless 
women  and  children  have  suffered  such  things  as  it 
were  even  a  shame  to  speak  of  plainly ;  though 
sanctuaries  have  been  desecrated  and  ministers  of 
God  dragged  from  sacred  altars  to  loathsome 
prisons ;  though  slaves  have  been  instigated  to 
insurrection,  and  every  measure  has  been  adopted 
that  the  ingenuity  of  the  enemy  could  devise,  or 
his  ample  resources  afford  by  sea  and  by  land  ;  yet 
we  aver  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  the  only 
possession  which  the  United  States  hold  in  the  Con- 


THE    FUTURE.  151 

federate  States,  is  the  ground  on  which  United 
States  troops  pitch  their  tents ;  and  whenever  these 
troops  withdraw  from  a  given  locality  in  our  terri 
tory,  the  people  resident  therein  testify  a  warmer 
devotion  to  the  Confederate  cause  than  even  before 
their  soil  was  invaded.  Nothing  is  therefore  con 
quered — no  part  of  the  country  is  subdued;  the 
civil  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  the  real 
test  of  their  success,  has  not  been  established  by 
any  force  of  arms.  Where  such  civil  jurisdiction 
exists  at  all  along  the  border,  it  has  existed  all  the 
while,  wras  not  obtained  by  force,  and  is  not  the 
fruit  of  conquest 

"  Notwithstanding  the  gigantic  exertions  of  the 
United  States,  they  have  not  been  able  to  secure 
the  return  of  a  single  county,  or  section  of  a  county, 
much  less  a  single  State  that  has  seceded.  No  civil 
order  and  peace  spring  up  in  the  track  of  their 
armies.  All  in  front  of  them  is  resolute  resistance, 
and  behind  them,  when  they  have  entered  our  ter 
ritory,  is  a  deep,  uncompromising  opposition,  over 
which  only  military  force  alone  can  for  a  moment 
be  trusted. 

"  The  only  change  of  opinion  among  our  people 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  that  is  of  material 
importance  to  the  final  issue,  has  been  the  change 
from  all  lingering  attachment  to  the  former  Union, 
to  a  more  sacred  and  reliable  devotion  to  the  Con 
federate  Government.  The  sentiments  of  the  people 


152  THE    FUTURE. 

are  not  alterable  in  any  other  respects  by  force  of 
arms. 

"  If  the  whole  country  were  occupied  by  United 
States  troops,  it  would  merely  exhibit  a  military 
despotism,  against  which  the  people  would  struggle 
in  perpetual  revolutionary  effort,  while  any  south 
rons  remained  alive.  Extermination  of  the  inhabit 
ants  could  alone  realize  civil  possession  of  their 
soil." 

NOTE. — If  our  people  would  but  carefully  consult  the 
history  of  our  revolutionary  war,  they  would  find  it  studded 
with  warnings  against  many  of  the  errors,  civil  and  military, 
into  which  we  have  fallen  during  the  present  contest.  The 
obstinate  attachment  of  the  ministry  of  George  III.  to  a 
policy  which  appealed  only  to  the  fears  of  the  Americans, 
was  caused  to  a  considerable  extent  by  a  total  misconcep 
tion  of  the  feelings  which  prevailed  among  the  people  ;  and 
it  rendered  irreparable  a  breach,  which  the  seasonable 
adoption  of  wiser  and  more  moderate  counsels  would  have 
closed.  The  embarrassments  of  the  Confederate  Govern 
ment,  referred  to  in  the  text,  are  strikingly  similar  to 
those  which  Congress  encountered  in  all  except  the  earliest 
and  latest  stages  of  the  revolution,  and  the  significance  of 
the  latter  was  misinterpreted  by  the  British  ministerial 
party,  precisely  as  the  administration  party  now  misinter 
pret  the  significance  of  the  former.  The  reader  will  find, 
in  the  ninth  chapter,  a  passage  from  Botta's  History, 
which  describes  some  of  the  dangers  to  which  the  Ameri 
can  cause  was  exposed,  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
Long  Island,  in  consequence  of  the  fears  and  despond 
ency  of  many  of  the  people,  and  the  •  remnants  of  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  crown  which  the  war  had  not  yet 
extinguished.  I  will  here  add  a  brief  outline  of  some  of 
the  subsequent  events,  with  extracts  from  the  same  work. 


THE    FUTURE.  153 

On  the  30th  of  May,  1777,  Lord  Chatham  was  carried 
from  his  sick-bed  to  the  House  of  Lords,  where  "in  a  strain 
of  admirable  eloquence  "  he  delivered  an  address  in  favor 
of  repealing  the  laws  which  had  occasioned  the  dissatisfac 
tion  in  America.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  said : 
"It  is  difficult  for  government,  after  all  that  has  passed,  to 
shake  hands  with  the  defiers  of  the  king,  defiers  of  Parlia 
ment,  defiers  of  the  people.  I  am  a  detier  of  nobody  ;  but 
if  an  end  is  not  put  to  this  war,  there  is  an  end  to  this 
country.  ....  But  you  would  conquer,  you  say  !  Why 
-  what  would  you  conquer,  the  map  of  America  ?  ....  If  you 
conquer  them,  what  then  ?  You  cannot  make  them  respect 
you  ;  you  cannot  make  them  wear  your  cloth.  You  will 

plant  an  invincible  hatred  in  their  breasts  against  you 

We  have  tried  for  unconditional  submission  ;  try  what  can 
be  gained  by  unconditional  redress.  We  shall  thus  evince 

a  conciliatory  spirit,  and  open  the  way  to  concord 

Mercy  cannot  do  harm  ;  it  will  seat  the  king  where  he 
ought  to  be,  throned  in  the  hearts  of  his  people  ;  and  mil 
lions  at  home  and  abroad,  now  employed  in  obloquy  and 
revolt,  would  pray  for  him.  The  revocation  I  propose,  and 
amnesty,  may  produce  a  respectable  division  in  America, 
and  unanimity  at  home.  It  will  give  America  an  option  ; 
she  has  as  yet  had  no  option.  You  have  said,  '  Lay  down 
your  arms/  and  she  has  given  you  the  Spartan  answer, 
1  Come— take.' " 

But  all  was  in  vain.  The  ministry  would  hear  of  no 
thing  but  unconditional  submission.  Botta  continues  : 
"  Neither  the  authority  of  such  a  man,  nor  the  force  of  his 
speech,  nor  present  evils,  nor  yet  fear  of  the  future,  were 
sufficient  to  procure  the  adoption  of  his  proposition.  Those 
who  opposed  it  contended  that  it  would  by  no  means 
•satisfy  the  Americans,  since  from  the  outset  they  had 
aimed  at  independency.  They  talked  of  the  dignity  of  the 
nation,  ....  of  the  number  of  loyalists  ready  to  declare 
themselves,  the  moment  an  occasion  should  offer  itself; 
they  harangued  upon  the  tyranny  of  Congress,  already 
7* 


154  THE    FUTURE. 

become  insupportable  to  the  Americans,  upon  the  empti 
ness  of  its  treasury,  and  the  rapid  depredation  of  bills  of 
credit ;  finally  they  enlarged  upon  that  impatience,  which 
was  universally  manifested  for  the  return  of  order,  and  the 
blessings  enjoyed  by  the  rest  of  the  subjects  of  the  British 
government." — Otis's  Translation,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  73-75.  ' 

So  another  grand  effort  was  made  to  "  break  the  back 
bone  of  the  rebellion"  by  the  force  of  arms  alone,  the 
ministry  having-  perfect  confidence  that  it  could  be  accom 
plished  in  one  more  campaign.  That  campaign  ended  in  the 
surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga,  and  the  fruitless 
British  victory  of  the  Brandywine,  which,  as  Botta  says, 
only  resulted  in  procuring  good  winter  quarters  for  Howe's 
army.  The  dreadful  winter  of  1777-1778  followed,  made 
memorable  by  the  encampment  at  Valley  Forge,  in  which 
Washington's  army  endured  hardships  which  the  Confede 
rate  soldiers  have  not  yet  even  dreamed  of.  The  success 
at  Saratoga  fixed  the  wavering  resolution  of  the  French 
court  to  declare  in  favor  of  the  colonists,  and  in  February, 
1778,  the  treaty  between  France  and  the  United  States 
was  signed.  Then  the  British  ministry  began  to  perceive 
the  consequences  of  their  infatuation,  and  made  an  effort 
to  be  reconciled  with  the  colonists.  Having  procured 
unofficial  knowledge  of  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  they 
introduced  into  Parliament  a  bill  to  appoint  commissioners 
to  settle  the  differences  between  the  colonists  and  the 
mother  country,  on  the  very  basis  proposed  by  Lord 
Chatham  in  the  preceding  year,  to  wit,  the  repeal  of  the 
obnoxious  laws,  the  surrender  of  the  right  of  taxation,  and 
a  universal  amnesty.  The  bill  passed,  but  on  the  thirteenth 
of  March,  before  anything  was  done  under  it,  official  news 
of  the  treaty  was  communicated  to  the  British  court.  A 
resolution  to  test  the  sense  of. the  House  of  Commons  on* 
the  subject  of  declaring  war  against  France  was  intro 
duced  by  the  ministry  on  the  seventeenth  of  March.  It 
was  at  once  alleged  by  the  opposition  that  the  propositions 
for  reconciliation  with  the  colonies  were  now  too  late,  and 


THE    FUTURE.  155 

it  was  proposed  that  before  fighting  France,  England 
should  rid  herself  of  her  American  enemy  by  acknowledg 
ing  the  independence  of  the  United  States.  The  answer 
of  the  ministry  showed  that  their  erroneous  opinions 
respecting  American  affairs  had  become  too  inveterate  to 
be  overcome  even  by  the  experience  which  they  had  under 
gone.  The  speech  of  Mr.  Jenkiuson,  the  minister  of  war, 
bears  a  striking  resemblance  in  many  features  to  those 
which  we  now  hear  every  day  in  Congress.  He  calls  the 
expose  which  had  been  made  by  the  opposition  of  the 
blunders  of  the  government,  and  the  disasters  to  which 
they  hau  led,  "indulging  their  favorite  whim  of  reviling 
their  comitry,  expatiating  with  apparent  delight  upon  its 
weakness,  and  magnifying  the  power  of  its  ambitious 
enemy  :"  he  assures  the  House  in  the  most  confident  man 
ner  that  if  the  colonists  decline  the  proposals  of  accommo 
dation,  one  more  campaign  MUST  crush  the  rebellion,  an 
opinion  which  he  supports  in  the  following  langua.ge  : 

"  I  shall  begin  with  asking  these  bosom  friends  of  rebels, 
if  they  are  certain  that  it  is  all  America,  or  only  a  seditious 
handful,  whose  craft  and  audacity  have  raised  them  to 
the  head  of  affairs,  who  claim  independency  ?  For  my 
own  part,  I  confess  that  this  independence  appears  to  me 
rather  a  vision  that  floats  in  certain  brains,  inflamed  by  the 
rage  of  innovation,  on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  well  as 
on  this,  than  any  general  wish  of  the  people.  This  is  what 
all  men  of  sense  declare,  who  have  resided  in  the  midst  of 
that  misguided  multitude  ;  this  is  attested  by  the  thousands 
of  royalists  who  have  flocked  to  the  royal  standard  in  New 
York,  and  who  have  fought  for  the  king  in  the  plains  of 
Saratoga,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Braudywine.  This, 
finally,  is  proclaimed  by  the  very  prisons,  crowded  with 
•inhabitants,  who  have  chosen  rather  to  part  with  their 

liberty,  than  to  renounce  their  allegiance There  is 

every  reason  to  think  that  to  such  subjects  as  remained 
faithful  until  England  set  up  the  pretension  of  taxation, 
many  others  will  join  themselves,  now  that  she  has 


156  THE    FUTURE. 

renounced  it  ;  for  already  all  are  convinced  how  much 
better  it  is  to  live  under  the  mild  sway  of  an  equitable 
prince,  than  under  the  tyranny  of  new  and  ambitious  men. 
....  Nor  should  I  omit  to  mention  a  well  known  fact  ; 
the  finances  of  Congress  are  exhausted  ;  their  soldiers  are 
naked  and  famishing  ;  they  can  satisfy  none  of  the  wants 
of  the  State  ;  creditors  are  without  remedy  against  their 
debtors ;  hence  arise  scandals  without  end,  private  hatreds, 
and  unanimous  maledictions  against  the  Government. 

"  There  is  not  an  individual  among  the  Americans,  but 
sees  that,  in  accepting  the  terms  offered  by  Great  Britain, 
the  public  credit  will  be  reestablished,  private  property 
secured,  and  abundance  in  all  parts  of  the  social  body 

restored Yes,   methinks   I  already  see,   or  I  am 

strangely  mistaken,  the  people  of  America  flocking  to  the 
royal  standard  ;  everything  invites  them  to  it ;  fidelity 
towards  the  sovereign,  the  love  of  the  English  name,  the 
hope  of  a  happier  future,  their  aversion  to  their  new  and 
unaccustomed  allies,  and,  finally,  the  hatred  they  bear  to 
the  tyranny  of  Congress." — Id.,  pp.  90-99. 

It  is  well  known  how  conclusively  the  result  proved  that 
Mr.  Jenkiuson  and  his  associate  ministers  were  "strangely 
mistaken."  May  God  grant  that  the  people  of  my  unhappy 
country  may  not  need  a  similar  catastrophe  to  open  their 
eyes  to  the  consequences  of  a  similar  folly  1 


THE    FUTURE.  157 


CHAPTEE  Yin. 

The  impossibility  of  Governing  the  People  of  the  South  by  means 
of  State  Governments,  depending  upon  the  Popular  Vote,  with 
out  allaying  their  Discontent — Results  which  attended  the 
Attempt  in  Utah  to  maintain  the  Federal  Government  over  a 
Dissatisfied  People — Collisions  which  a  similar  Attempt  in  the 
South  would  provoke — The  impracticability  of  introducing  a 
new  Element  of  Political  Power,  by  means  of  the  Blacks,  or  of 
Foreign  Immigrants,  or  of  Immigrants  from  the  North — The 
practical  Result  of  the  Power  of  Government,  popular  in  Form, 
to  coerce  its  Subjects  to  obedience,  compared  with  the  Theory — 
Action  of  President  Jackson  in  the  Nullification  Controversy — 
His  Opinion  respecting  the  possibility  of  maintaining  the  Union 
by  Force  alone — Madison,  Benton,  Everett,  Douglas  and  Web 
ster's  Opinions  upon  the  same  subject. 

LET  us  now  examine  what  prospect  a  persistence 
in  the  policy  which  I  have  discussed  in  the  pre 
ceding  chapters,  holds  out  of  securing  the  ultimate 
pacification  of  the  southern  country,  after  the  peo 
ple  shall  have  been  subdued  by  the  complete  victory 
of  our  arms,  and  State  governments  controlled  by 
the  free  and  unbiassed  votes  of  the  whole  people,  shall 
have  been  established  over  them.  Such,  as  has  been 
fully  stated  in  chapters  iii.  and  iv.,  is  the  conclusion 
of  the  war  which  the  Constitution  requires,  to  which 
the  Government  has  pledged  itself  to  foreign  powers, 
and  which  the  Crittenden  resolution  contemplates. 


158  FIIE    FUTURE. 

In  the  language  of  that  resolution,  "  the  war  is  not 
waged  for  the  purpose  of  conquest  or  subjugation,  or 
of  overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the  rights  or 
established  institutions  of  those  States,  but  ...  to 
preserve  the  Union,  with  all  the  dignity,  equality, 
and  rights  of  the  several  States,  unimpaired,  and 
that  as  soon  as  those  objects  are  accomplished,  the 
war  ought  to  cease."  In  the  language  of  Mr.  Sew- 
ard,  if  the  revolution  fails,  a  the  condition  of  every 
human  being  "  in  the  seceded  States  "  will  remain 
subject  to  exactly  the  same  laws  and  forms  of 
administration  "  as  before,  and  their  "  constitutions 
and  laws,  customs,  habits  and  institutions  will 
remain  the  same." 

If  these  words  mean  anything,  they  mean  that  as 
soon  as  the  Federal  armies  have  driven  the  Con 
federate  armies  out  of  the  field,  the  people  of  the 
southern  States  are  to  resume  the  right  of  being 
governed  by  a  governor  and  legislature,  freely 
elected  by  themselves,  and  possessing,  so  far  as  any 
interference  by  the  United  States  is  concerned, 
unlimited  power  to  raise  money  by  taxation,  and 
to  appropriate  it  to  any  purpose  whatever ;  to 
embod}r  the  people  into  a  military  force,  and  organ 
ize  and  arm  them ;  to  regulate  the  police  system, 
the  tenure  of  property,  internal  trade,  and  all  the 
details  of  internal  government.  They  will  also 
possess  a  judiciary,  elected  or  appointed  by  them 
selves,  and  empowered  to  decide  (in  most  cases  ulti- 


THE    FUTURE.  159 

mately  and  •without  appeal)  all  controversies  which, 
may  arise  between  inhabitants  of  the  State;  and 
finally,  they  will  have  their  proportionate  vote  in 
the  election  of  the  President  and  their  propor 
tionate  part  of  the  members  of  eacli  House  of 
Congress,  to  whom  is  confided  the  national  Gov 
ernment  of  themselves  and  their  conquerors.  As 
I  have  shown  in  the  third  and  fourth  chapters, 
there  is  no  method  known  to  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  country,  whereby  such  of  the 
southern  people  as  may  escape  the  sword,  the 
gibbet  and  the  prison,  can  be  deprived  of  the  full 
exercise  in  their  States  of  all  the  rights  which  free 
men  in  the  loyal  States  enjoy;  and  however  great 
may  be  the  thirst  of  the  conquerors  for  vengeance 
upon  their  conquered  enemies,  the  instinct  of 
humanity  and  the  public  opinion  of  the  civilized 
world  will  revolt  against  its  gratification  to  an 
extent  which  will  appreciably  diminish  the  popula 
tion.  The  men  who  have  composed  the  armies 
which  have  hitherto  retired  before  us,  and  those 
other  men,  more  or  less  prominent  by  their  social 
position,  their  wealth,  their  talents,  their  acquire 
ments,  and  their  virtues,  who  have  accompanied 
them,  will  return  to  their  homes  and  resume  their 
former  occupations.  The  vast  powers  to  which  I 
have  already  referred,  are  therefore  to  be  exercised 
by  a  proud  and  high-spirited  people,  who  will  be 
animated  with  the  spirit  towards  the  North  and  the 


1(50  THE    FUTURE. 

Federal  Government,  which  has  been  already  de 
scribed,  and  which  will  naturally  be  greatly  inten 
sified  by  that  crowning  mortification  to  any  free 
and  sensitive  people,  a  foreign  conquest.  The  cir 
cumstances  necessarily  attending  such  a  conquest — 
the  grief  and  mourning  for  those  who  have  fallen 
in  battle,  the  impoverishment  of  the  country  by  the 
annihilation  of  its  currency  and  the  miseries  of  inva 
sion — and  the  national  humiliation  which  the  fact 
of  conquest  involves,  would  render  the  attempt  to 
reconcile  such  a  people  to  their  condition  a  trying 
task  for  the  ablest  statesmen.  But  the  idea  of  recon 
ciliation  is  to  be  completely  ignored ;  on  the  con 
trary,  the  policy  marked  out  for  us,  is  one  calculated 
to  render  that  condition  absolutely  intolerable, 
which  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances 
would  be  extremely  galling.  The  leaders  of  this 
people,  whom  they  regard  with  a  reverence  and 
affection  which  living  statesmen  and  warriors  can 
not  hope  to  inspire,  except  in  revolutionary  times, 
are  to  be  brought  to  the  block  or  exiled  ;  the  system 
of  labor  upon  which  all  the  industrial  interests  of 
the  country  are  founded  is  to  be  destroyed ;  an 
immense  portion  of  the  property  of  the  country  is 
to  be  swept  away  beyond  the  reach  of  even  Execu 
tive  clemency ;  the  remainder  and  the  lives  and 
liberty  of  eacli  individual  are  to  be  held  at  the 
mercy  of  the  conqueror ;  and  all  are  to  be  inexora 
bly  excluded  from  filling  any  office  whatever  under 


THE    FUTURE.  161 

the  Government  of  the  conqueror,  or  from  sitting  as 
jurors  in  his  courts.  If  some  of  them  shall  by  a 
pardon  earned  by  early  submission  be  relieved  from 
the  weight  of  such  of  these  hardships  as  are  capable 
of  alleviation  by  the  act  of  the  Executive,  or  shall 
be  exempted  from  the  operation  of  the  vindictive 
laws  by  accidental  peculiarities  of  their  circum 
stances  ;  or  if  an  infusion  of  northern  men  shall  be 
introduced  among  the  people ;  those  who  are  thus 
fortunately  raised  above  the  calamities  of  their 
fellow-citizens,  will  be  "  rari  nantes  in  gurgite  vasto," 
a  few  scattered  loyalists  in  a  nation  of  sufferers, 
seething  with  hatred  and  suppressed  rebellion. 
Such  will  be  the  people  who  are  to  exercise  the 
almost  unlimited  power  of  a  sovereign  State  by 
means  of  universal  suffrage.  And  it  is  expected 
that  this  power  will  be  exercised,  voluntarily  or 
through  fear  of  consequences,  in  harmony  with  and 
in  subordination  to  the  Government  by  which  they 
have  been  ruined,  degraded  and  oppressed.  I  will 
present  a  few  suggestions,  to  show  that  such  a 
scheme  is  impracticable,  although  a  simple  statement 
of  the  facts  seems  to  me  so  forcible,  that  argument 
can  add  but  little  to  it.  I  have  endeavored  in  vain 
to  discover  in  any  public  speech  or  document,  or  to 
procure  in  private  conversation  with  those  who 
believe  in  the  possibility  of  the  restoration  of  the 
Union  by  force  and  a  policy  of  severity,  any  lucid 
explanation  of  the  manner  in  which  such  a  scheme 


TTIE    FUTURE. 


is  to  be  practically  carried  into  effect.  To  me  it 
appears  that  the  only  escape  from  the  conclusion 
that  the  country  would  be  delivered  up  to  hopeless 
anarchy  and  perpetual  civil  strife,  is  to  suppose  that 
a  state  of  things  would  supervene  similar  to  that 
which  attended  the  attempt  of  President  Buchanan 
to  restore  by  force  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  over  the  rebellious  Territory  of  Utah. 
Although  the  Mormon  rebels  were  the  objects  of 
universal  detestation  throughout  the  civilized  world  ; 
although  our  people  were  united  as  a  man  in  the 
determination  that  they  should  be  put  down  ; 
although  a  force  was  sent  against  them  which  ren 
dered  open  resistance  hopeless  ;  although  they  at 
once  nominally  yielded,  and  our  troops  occupied 
their  country  without  opposition  ;  and  although 
they  wielded  only  the  limited  power  of  a  territorial 
government,  yet  the  result  showed  how  utterly 
dependent  is  the  operation  of  our  whole  political 
system  upon  the  wishes  and  affections  of  the  people 
of  the  different  localities  over  which  it  extends. 
The  laws  of  the  United  States  were  practically  nul- 
liiii'd  ;  its  actual  jurisdiction  was  circumscribed  by 
the  line  of  sentinels  around  the  encampments  ;  its 
loyal  citizens  were  plundered  with  impunity  under 
the  forms  of  law  ;  its  judicial  and  civil  officers 
owed  their  lives  only  to  the  continual  protection  of 
a  guard  ;  every  species  of  crime  was  committed  by 
the  Mormons  with  impunity  ;  in  short,  a  nest  of 


TITE    FUTURE. 


outlaws,  contemptible  in  numbers,  and  thoroughly 
depraved  in  morals,  but  united  in  purpose,  and 
wielding  the  numerical  majority  of  the  territory,  set 
at  utter  defiance  the  authority  of  the  whole  nation. 
What  then  can  we  expect  as  the  result  of  placing 
the  whole  power  of  a  State  in  the  hands  of  a  people 
animated  by  such  sentiments  as  I  have  described  ? 
An  utter  abandonment  for  a  season  of  the  authority 
of  the  United  States  within  the  State,  and  a  surren 
der  of  all  rights  acquired  under  the  penal  statutes  or 
proclamations,  would  prevent  collisions,  and  conse 
quently  avoid  the  continued  irritation  to  which  this 
would  give  rise  ;  and  when  the  lapse  of  time  had 
assuaged  the  violent  passions  of  the  people,  and 
repaired  the  immense  damage  which  the  war  has 
occasioned  to  individuals  and  the  public,  the  com 
plete  absorption  of  the  State  into  the  Union  might 
possibly  be  effected.  But  such  a  course  is  utterly 
impracticable  and  inconsistent  with  the  object  of  the 
war;  and  whether  practicable  or  impracticable,  it 
is  the  exact  reverse  of  the  policy  to  which  the  nation 
now  stands  pledged,  a  policy  which  involves  a  per 
petual  collision  between  the  Federal  authorities  and 
the  infuriated  people.  Apart  from  the  negro  con 
troversy,  there  will  be  an  abundant  crop  of  quarrels 
springing  daily  from  the  dragons'  teeth  which  have 
been  so  plentifully  sown  by  the  war.  The  collec 
tion  of  the  customs  and  the  administration  of 
justice  by  the  Federal  courts  in  ordinary  cases, 


1(34:  THE    FUTURE. 

could  not  fail,  under  the  disqualifying  statutes,  to 
keep  up  a  perpetual  irritation.  What  then  may  ho 
expected  from  an  attempt  to  enforce  the  internal 
revenue  law — a  measure,  the  operation  of  which, 
extending  as  it  does  into  nearly  every  portion  of  the 
every  day  business  of  eveiy  man,  is  exceedingly 
galling  to  our  own  people?  Can  any  one  doubt 
what  will  be  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  collect 
from  a  conquered  people,  the  price  of  their  own 
subjugation  by  means  of  a  law  so  vexatious  in 
itself,  and  administered  by  men  the  very  sight  of 
whom,  and  the  recollection  of  the  oath  they  have 
taken  are  a  perpetual  reminder  to  the  people  of 
their  own  misfortunes  and  degradation?  What  will 
be  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  enforce  the  confisca 
tion  law,  by  officers  of  the  same  character  ?  What 
popular  demonstrations  will  accompany  the  march 
and  follow  the  train  of  a  Federal  judge,  with  a 
standing  panel  of  jurors,  and  an  army  of  marshals — 
every  man,  judge,  juror  and  marshal,  considered  by 
the  people  a  traitor  or  a  foreigner — travelling  around 
the  southern  country  to  enforce  the  vindictive  penal 
statutes  to  which  I  have  referred  ?  What  protec 
tion  will  the  purchaser  of  a  confiscated  estate  find 
for  his  life  and  his  property  in  the  State  tribu 
nals  and  from  State  officers,  elected  by  the  free 
votes  of  the  suiferers  and  their  fellow-countrymen 
and  friends  ? 

Here  are  but  a  very  few  of  the  questions  which 


THE    FUTURE.  165 

will  arise  as  a  consequence  of  an  attempt  to  restore 
the  independence  and  sovereignty  of  the  southern 
States  after  conquering  their  armies,  and  occupy 
ing  their  soil,  without  having  secured  the  coopera 
tion  of  a  majority  of  the  people ;  but  I  think  that 
whoever  attempts  to  answer  them  will  find  himself 
compelled  to  give  up  the  problem  as  insoluble, 
except  by  one  of  these  two  alternatives,  viz.,  (1)  the 
people  must  be  exterminated,  or  (2)  a  new  element 
must  be  introduced  in  sufficient  numbers  to  reverse 
the  present  majority.  As  I  have  already  said 
several  times,  the  first  of  these  two  alternatives  is 
out  of  the  question.  There  are  many  persons,  how 
ever,  to  whom  the  second  seems  to  afford  a  means 
of  escape  from  the  difficulties  with  which  the 
question  is  surrounded  ;  but  a  careful  examination 
of  the  subject  will  dissipate  this  illusion  in  the 
niinds  of  men  yet  open  to  conviction. 

"Whence  is  the  "  new  element "  to  come  ?  Some 
will  answer,  from  the  negroes.  Supposing  it  were 
possible  to  transform  the  negroes  into  voters,  the 
difficulty  would  be  but  partially  overcome,  for  only 
in  Mississippi  and  South  Carolina  do  they  exceed 
the  whites  in  numbers.  In  some  of  the  seceded 
States  the  disproportion  is  so  vast  that  the  newly 
introduced  element  would  not  affect  the  result.  In 
Arkansas  the  whites  outnumber  the  blacks  three  to 
one  ;  in  North  Carolina,  Texas,  and  Virginia,  about 
two  to  one.  But  a  difficulty  meets  us  at  the  very 


IQfl  THE    FUTURE. 

threshold,  in  the  circumstance  that  every  one  of  the 
State  constitutions  rigidly  excludes  negroes  from 
voting  or  holding  office;  and  hence  the  Federal 
Government,  in  order  to  entitle  them  to  exercise 
the  elective  franchise,  must  commence  by  over 
throwing  the  State  constitutions  and  creating  new 
ones,  or,  in  other  words,  must  subjugate  the  South. 
Apart  from  this  consideration,  it  seems  impossible 
that  any  sane  man  can  seriously  propose  to  endow 
the  semi-civilized  negroes  of  the  South,  whose  whole 
lives  have  been  passed  in  the  most  degraded  igno 
rance  and  bondage,  with  the  responsibility  of  exer 
cising  the  elective  franchise.  A  community  com 
posed  of  such  a  population  would  at  once  fall  into 
hopeless  anarchy,  and  the  ordinary  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  would  compel  its  neighbors  to  seize  its 
country,  abolish  its  government,  and  to  establish 
over  it  a  protectorate,  in  order  to  insure  that  ordi 
nary  security  of  life  and  property,  without  which 
even  the  most  rudimentary  government  cannot  exist. 
And  would  any  State  inhabited  by  the  white  free 
men  of  the  North,  be  willing  to  acknowledge  such 
a  State  as  its  equal?  Would  our  senators  allow 
blacks  to  bit  with  them  as  equals  in  the  Senate? 
"Would  our  representatives  tolerate  the  presence  of 
black  delegations  in  the  House  ? 

I  do  not  think  that  any  considerable  number  of 
reflecting  men  of  our  country  would  hesitate  to  re 
ject  the  theory  of  superseding  or  nullifying  the 


THE    FUTURE. 


political  power  of  the  whites  of  the  South  by  en 
dowing  the  negroes  with  the  elective  franchise. 
But  many  talk  of  an  immigration  of  whites  as  a 
means  by  which  order  may  be  established,  and  a 
population  created  capable  of  sustaining  a  State 
government.  A  few  figures  will,  I  think,  dissipate 
this  theory.  The  following  table  shows  the  total 
white  population  of  the  several  seceding  States,  by 
the  census  of  1860,  omitting  Tennessee,  for  reasons 
which  I  have  already  given. 

White  Population. 

Virginia  (less  Western  Virginia),         .       .  112,490 

North  Carolina,  .......  631,100 

South  Carolina,  .......  291,338 

Georgia,       ........  591,588 

Florida,        ........       17,748 

Alabama,     ........  526,431 

Mississippi,  ........  353,901 

Louisiana,    ........  357,629    ^ 

Texas,    .........  421,294 

Arkansas,     ........  324,191 

Total  in  ten  seceded  States,         .       .  4,287,710 

Whence  is  to  come  the  deluge  of  immigration  that 
is  to  neutralize  the  votes  of  these  four  and  a  quar 
ter  millions  of  population  ?  From  Europe  ?  The 
total  arrivals  of  immigrants  from  foreign  countries 
into  the  United  States  since  1854,  when  the  effects 
of  the  Irish  famine  ceased  to  influence  the  course  of 


THE    FUTURE. 


immigration,  did  not  exceed  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
two  thousand  in  any  one  year,  and  the  yearly  aver 
age  for  the  six  years  ending  January  1,  1861  (when 
the  census  tables  end),  is  about  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  thousand.  Of  these  a  large  portion 
merely  pass  through  our  country  and  ultimately 
settle  in  Canada.  If,  therefore,  the  population  of 
the  seceding  States  should  remain  stationary,  and 
all  the  immigrants  from  Europe  should  settle  among 
them,  it  would  still  take  over  twenty-four  years 
to  enable  the  immigration  to  equal  in  numbers 
the  native  white  population.  But  what  induce 
ments  are  to  be  offered  to  the  foreign  emigrant 
to  persuade  him  to  go  to  the  southern  States  in 
stead  of  to  the  West?  The  inevitable  negro  will 
continue  to  confront  him  at  the  South  as  he  does 
now  ;  and  the  negro's  freedom,  if  it  shall  be  se 
cured  to  him,  will  not  make  a  place  for  the  Euro 
pean.  For  if  the  freed  negro  will  be  willing 
to  labor,  there  will  be  a  labor  market  already 
overstocked  with  men  who  can  work  during  the 
whole  year,  in  a  climate  which  compels  the  white 
man  to  be  idle  during  about  one-third  of  the  time. 
If  the  negro  will  not  work,  he  will  become  a  vaga 
bond,  a  thief,  and  a  nuisance,  whose  presence  will 
afford  a  white  man  no  additional  attraction  to  the 
prospect  of  labor  under  a  broiling  sun,  in  the  rice 
swamps,  the  sugar  plantations,  and  the  cotton 
fields,  in  a  climate  notoriously  fatal  to  the  stranger. 


THE    FUTURE.  169 

What  privilege  or  bonus  can  the  Government  offer 
which  will  be  adequate  to  induce  even  one  million 
of  foreign  emigrants  to  settle  in  such  a  countrv, 
when  the  West  lies  before  them  with  a  demand  for 
labor  and  a  rate  of  wages  increased  by  the  war, 
with  a  climate  similar  to  that  in  which  they  were 
born  and  brought  up,  and  countless  acres  of  the 
best  land  at  almost  nominal  prices  ?* 

Most  clearly  nothing  can  be  done  to  make  any 
appreciable  change  in  the  course  of  immigration. 
Were  the  contrary  possible,  can  it  be  supposed  that 
the  western  States,  which  employ  (or  until  recently 
employed)  agents  to  reside  abroad  to  compete  with 
each  other  for  the  foreign  emigration,  would  tole 
rate  for  any  length  of  time  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Government  to  turn  the  stream  of  immi 
grants  away  from  them  ? 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  a  northern  immigra 
tion.  If  abolition  of  slavery  and  confiscations  are 
to  be  the  order  of  the  day,  a  considerable  stream  of 
immigration  southwards  from  the  northern  States 
may  set  in  at  the  close  of  the  war.  It  is  not  impos 
sible  that  these  immigrants  may,  in  the  three  or 
four  large  cities  of  the  South,  soon  constitute  a  class 
of  the  population,  engaged  in  industrial  occupations 
of  all  kinds,  and  sufficiently  numerous  to  stand  alone, 

*  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  whole  European 
continent,  except  a  portion  of  Portugal,  Spain,  Italy,  and 
Greece,  lies  north  of  the  parallel  of  New  York. 


THE    FUTURE. 


socially  and  politically.  But  when  that  period  shall 
have  arrived,  no  serious  impression  will  yet  have 
been  made  by  them  upon  the  politics  of  the  State. 
The  rural  districts  must  also  be  overrun,  and  what 
attraction  is  it  proposed  to  offer  to  induce  the  settle 
ment  of  the  interior  by  northerners  ?  Is  it  to  be  a 
general  confiscation  of  the  estates  of  the  conquered 
rebels  under  the  savage  penal  laws,  and  the  sale  of 
those  estates  at  low  rates  to  "  loyal"  men,  or  a  do 
nation  of  them  to  the  volunteers  ?  But  the  capa 
city  of  the  Government  to  supply  a  population  in 
this  way  must  be  very  limited  ;  and  I  surmise  that 
any  northern  gentleman,  who  may  propose  to  enjoy 
his  "  otium  cum  dignitate  "  upon  an  estate  so  ac 
quired,  will  find  it  essential  to  his  comfort,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  security  of  his  life  and  property,  pre 
viously  to  surround  himself  with  a  population  whose 
interests  and  sympathies  are  similar  to  his  own. 
In  other  words,  the  masses  in  the  rural  districts 
must  also  be  composed  of  immigrants  ;  and  what  are 
to  be  the  inducements  for  the  laboring  men  of  the 
North  to  expatriate  themselves?  and  how  are  we 
to  spare  from  among  us  the  vast  numbers  of  them 
requisite  to  create  a  new  political  power  in  the 
South  j 

In  fact  the  more  we  study  the  problem  of  esta 
blishing  by  force  one  of  our  free  State  governments 
over  an  unwilling  people,  the  further  its  solution 
recedes.  It  has  no  solution  ;  it  is  an  utter  impos- 


THE    FUTURE. 


sibility  ;  an  absurdity  ;  "  segri  somnium."  As  Mr. 
Seward  truly  says,  our  federal  republican  system  is 
of  all  forms  of  government  the  very  one  which  is 
the  most  unfitted  for  the  subjugation  of  "thoroughly 
disaffected  and  insurrectionary  members  of  the 
State."  It  is  true  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  State- 
owe  an  allegiance  to  the  general  Government  as  in 
dissoluble  as  that  which  they  owe  to  their  own  State 
authorities  ;  it  is  true  that  the  acts  of  secession  were 
usurpations  of  power,  and  the  insurrection  a  crimi 
nal  rebellion  against  a  lawful  government.  But 
although  the  rebellion  may  lawfully  be  suppressed 
by  force,  yet  the  fruits  of  victory  will  be  worse  than 
apples  of  Sodom  in  our  hands,  if  we  are  to  rely 
upon  force  and  fear  to  retain  dominion  after  the 
victory  shall  have  been  achieved.  For  baseless  as 
the  theory  is  that  States  have  the  right  to  secede,  yet, 
as  a  practical  proposition,  it  is  utterly  impossible 
permanently  to  retain  eight  or  ten  States  within 
such  a  Union  as  was  established  by  our  fathers, 
against  the  will  of  a  preponderating  majority  of 
their  inhabitants.  Although  the  Constitution,  as 
we  construe  it,  neglects  to  provide  for  a  separation 
from  the  Union,  and  evidently  intended  to  make 
that  Union  perpetual,  it  did  provide,  by  the  mere 
fact  of  establishing  a  popular  form  of  government, 
that  its  own  existence  should  depend  upon  the 
Union  retaining  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the 
people  in  all  sections  of  its  territory. 


172  THE  FUTURE. 

All  governments  have  the  same  general  powers 
and  function:?;  but  with  governments,  as  with  indi 
viduals,  one  system  will  permit  without  hazard  the 
exercise  of  particular  functions  to  an  extent  which 
would  endanger  or  destroy  the  life  of  the  other. 
Despotic  governments  find  their  strength  in  the 
very  place  where  popular  governments  find  their 
weakness  ;  for  while  the  one  rests  on  force,  and  its 
prolongation  by  force  is  a  mere  question  of  the 
extent  of  force  at  its  command,  in  the  other,  every 
successful  exercise  of  force  beyond  the  ordinary 
administration  of  the  police  laws,  is  a  stab  at  its 
own  vitals,  which  must  always  inflict  a  dangerous 
wound,  and  the  frequent  repetition  of  which  must 
inevitably  be  fatal.  Hence,  when  the  majority,  the 
embodiment  of  whose  wishes  forms  the  governing 
power  of  a  free  nation,  only  slightly  preponderates 
in  numbers  over  the  minority,  although  it  has  the 
undoubted  right  to  perpetuate  its  sway  by  force, 
yet  freedom  is  sure  to  perish  if  the  necessity  for  the 
exercise  of  force  is  imminent  and  continued.  This 
may  be  laid  down  as  an  axiom  of  political  science 
in  nations  where  the  party  divisions  are  denomina 
tional  merely.  But  when  they  are  sectional  other 
considerations  supervene.  For  if  a  contest  arises 
between  the  two  sections,  whether  it  be  constitu 
tional  or  revolutionary,  rational  or  physical,  when 
ever  it  has  attained  such  intensity  and  duration, 
that  the  people  of  the  two  sections  have  become 


THE    FUTURE.  173 

thoroughly  and  permanently  alienated  from  each 
other,  in  thoughts,  feelings,  wishes  and  interests, 
the  name  of  their  common  country  becomes  but  a 
geographical  designation.  They  are  to  all  practical 
intents  and  purposes  two  separate  nations,  and  if 
the  bond  of  union  is  preserved  by  force  of  the  arms 
of  the  stronger  against  the  will  of  the  weaker,  by 
whatever  designation  they  may  formally  style  the 
relation  between  them,  it  is  that  of  conquerors  and 
conquered  ;  a  relation  in  which  even  the  forms, 
and  above  all  the  spirit  of  a  free  popular  govern 
ment,  can  have  but  a  transient  existence. 

The  dissolution  of  the  Union  and  its  forcible 
restoration  have  from  time  to  time  been  the  sub 
ject  of  the  speculations  of  American  statesmen  ; 
but  until  within  the  last  three  years,  I  have  never 
heard  or  read  of  any  person  of  note  advancing  the 
proposition  that  it  can  be  permanently  maintained 
by  force.  Certainly  the  republican  party  did  not 
advocate  any  such  theory  in  the  canvass  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty.  The  argument  that  their  suc 
cess  would  lead  to  disunion  and  civil  war,  though 
vehemently  urged  by  their  opponents,  was  regarded 
even  by  most  of  the  democratic  party  at  the  North, 
more  as  the  statement  of  the  ultimate  tendency  of 
republican  tenets,  than  as  the  announcement  of  the 
immediate  and  direct  result  of  their  triumph.  By 
the  Republicans  themselves  it  was  received  with 
such  incredulity  as  to  elicit  no  response  but  ridicule. 


174  .  THE    FUTURE. 

The  progress,  either  of  wisdom  or  its  reverse, 
Las  been  so  great  since  that  time,  that  the  doc 
trine  is  now  maintained  with  seriousness  by  some 
of  the  most  eminent  politicians  of  the  day,  that 
force  and  fear  alone  will  be  sufficient  to  reestablish 
the  Union  in  its  original  integrity.  If  I  am  wrong 
in  the  conclusion  which  I  have  endeavored  to  main 
tain,  that  this  is  a  dangerous  fallacy,  I  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  my  error  has  been 
shared  by  the  most  distinguished  jurists  and  states 
men  of  the  present  as  well  as  of  the  past  generations. 
I  will  select  a  few  quotations  from  the  expressed 
opinions  of  those  whose  names  may  possibly  carry 
a  weight  which  wrould  be  denied  to  my  reasoning 
alone. 

And  first  let  us  hear  Andrew  Jackson.  Or  rather 
before  I  quote  his  words,  let  me  advert  for  a  mo 
ment  to  his  deeds.  His  great  name  is  daily  ap 
pealed  to  by  those  who  believe  or  affect  to  believe 
in  the  possibility  of  restoring  the  Union  by  fear 
and  coercion  alone.  How  little  our  present  policy 
accords  with  that  of  Jackson  in  the  Nullification 
controversy  will  appear  by  a  brief  reference  to  any 
history  of  the  times — say  Mr.  Benton's  Thirty 
Years  in  ike  United  States  Senate.  Jackson's 
theory,  by  which  he  redeemed  his  famous  pledge, 
that  the  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved,  was 
that  force  and  conciliation  should  go  hand  in  hand, 
and  he  therefore  devoted  as  much  energy  to  build- 


THE    FUTURE.  175 

ing  up  a  party  in  South  Carolina  favorable  to  the 
repeal  of  the  Nullification  ordinance  as  to  overaw 
ing  the  promoters  of  the  latter.  I  quote  from  Mr. 
Benton :  "  His  proclamation,  his  message,  and  all 
his  proceedings  therefore  bore  a  two  fold  aspect — 
one  of  relief  and  justice  in  reducing  the  revenue  to 
the  wants  of  the  Government  in  the  economical 
administration  of  its  affairs ;  the  other  of  firm  and 
mild  authority  in  enforcing  the  laws  against  offend 
ers.  .  .  .  Many  thought  that  he  ought  to  relax 
in  his  civil  measures  for  allaying  discontent,  while 
South  Carolina  held  a  military  attitude  of  armed 
defiance  to  the  United  States,  and  among  them  Mr. 
Quincy  Adams.  But  he  adhered  steadily  to  his 
purpose  of  going  on  with  what  justice  required  for 
the  relief  of  the  South,  and  promoted,  by  all  the 
means  in  his  power,  the  success  of  the  bill  to  reduce 
the  revenue."  How  little  he  relied  upon  force 
to  maintain  the  Union  will  appear  from  the  follow 
ing  extract  from  his  farewell  address  to  the  Ameri 
can  people. 

"  If  such  a  struggle  (civil  war)  is  once  begun,  and 
the  citizens  of  one  section  of  the  country  arrayed  in 
arms  against  those  of  another  in  doubtful  conflict, 
let  the  battle  result  as  it  may,  there  will  be  an  end 
of  the  Union,  and  with  it  an  end  to  the  hopes  of 
freedom.  The  victory  of  the  injured  would  not 
secure  to  them  the  blessings  of  liberty  ;  it  would 
avenge  their  wrongs,  but  they  would  themselves 


176  THE    FUTURE. 

share  in  the  common  ruin.  But  the  Constitution 
cannot  be  maintained,  nor  the  Union  preserved  in 
opposition  to  public  feeling,  by  the  mere  exertion 
of  the  coercive  powers  confided  to  the  general  Gov 
ernment  ;  the  foundations  must  be  laid  in  the  affec 
tions  of  the  people  :  in  the  security  it  gives  to  life, 
liberty,  character  and  property  in  every  quarter  of 
the  country;  and  in  the  fraternal  attachment  which 
the  citizens  of  the  several  States  bear  to  one  another, 
as  members  of  one  political  family  mutually  con 
tributing  to  promote  the  happiness  of  each  other." 

Mr.  Madison,  in  the  convention  which  framed 
the  Constitution,  said  :  "  Any  government  for  the 
United  States  formed  upon  the  supposed  practica 
bility  of  using  force  against  the  unconstitutional 
proceedings  of  the  States,  would  prove  as  visionary 
and  fallacious  as  the  government  of  Congress  "  (the 
confederation).  .He  nevertheless  approved  of  the 
proceedings  of  General  Jackson,  because  they  were 
characterized  by  conciliation  and  not  a  reliance 
upon  force  alone  ;  but  he  distinctly  admitted  the 
"  impracticability  of  retaining  in  the  Union  a  large 
and  cemented  section  against  its  will."  Mr.  Ben- 
ton,  the  friend  and  supporter  of  General  Jackson 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  Nullification  contro 
versy,  says :  "  The  authors  of  our  present  form  of 
government  .  .  .  formed  a  government  in  which 
the  law  and  the  popular  will,  and  not  the  sword, 
was  to  decide  questions,  and  they  looked  upon  the 


THE    FUTURE.  177 

first  resort  to  the  sword  for  the  decision  of  such 
questions  as  the  death  of  the  Union." 

Mr.  Edward  Everett  (now  "  quantum  mutatus 
ab  illo  ")  expressed  himself  to  the  same  effect  as 
General  Jackson,  in  his  letter  of  acceptance  of  his 
nomination  for  the  vice-presidency  in  1860. 

"  The  suggestion  that  the  Union  can  be  main- 

C?o 

tained  by  numerical  predominance  and  military 
prowess  of  one  section,  exerted  to  coerce  the  other 
into  submission,  is  in  my  judgment  as  self-contra 
dictory  as  it  is  dangerous.  It  comes  loaded  with 
the  death  smell  from  the  fields  wet  with  brothers' 
blood.  If  the  vital  principle  of  all  republican  gov 
ernments  is  the  consent  of  the  governed,  much  more 
does  a  Union  of  co-equal  sovereign  States  require 
as  its  basis  the  harmony  of  its  members,  and  their 
voluntary  cooperation  in  its  organic  functions." 

Mr.  Douglas  went  even  further.  He  maintained 
that  the  inauguration  of  civil  war  would  forever 
destroy  the  possibility  of  reunion.  On  several 
occasions  during  the  second  session  of  the  thirty- 
sixth  Congress,  while  addressing  the  Senate  in  sup 
port  of  the  Crittenden  compromise,  he  asserted  this 
opinion  in  emphatic  terms :  "  An  amicable  settle 
ment  is  a  perpetuation  of  the  Union.  The  use  of 
the  sword  is  war,  disunion  and  separation ;  now  and 
forever."  ..."  I  repeat,  then,  my  solemn  con 
viction,  that  war  means  disunion — final,  irrevocable, 
eternal  separation." 


178  THE    FUTURE. 

Daniel  Webster  had  previously  expressed  the 
same  opinion. 

"  In  March,  1850,  when  I  found  it  my  duty  to 
address  Congress  on  these  important  topics,  it  was 
my  conscientious  belief,  and  it  still  remains  un 
shaken,  that  if  the  controversy  with  Texas  could  not 
be  amicably  adjusted,  there  must  in  all  probability 
be  civil  war  and  bloodshed  ;  and  in  contemplation 
of  such  a  prospect,  although  we  took  it  for  granted 
that  no  opposition  could  arise  to  the  authority  of 
the  United  States  that  would  not  be  suppressed,  it 
appeared  of  little  consequence  on  which  standard 

victory  should  perch But  what  of  that  ? 

I  was  not  anxious  about  military  consequences; 
I  looked  to  the  civil  and  political  state  of  things, 
and  their  results,  and  I  inquired  what  would  be  the 
condition  of  the  country  if  in  this  state  of  agita 
tion,  if  in  this  vastly  extended  though  not  generally 
pervading  feeling  of  the  South,  war  should  break 
out,  and  bloodshed  should  ensue  in  that  quarter  of 
the  Union  ?  That  was  enough  for  me  to  inquire 
into  and  consider ;  and  if  the  chances  had  been  one 
in  a  thousand  that  civil  war  would  be  the  result,  I 
should  have  felt  that  that  one-thousandth  chance 
should  be  guarded  against  by  any  reasonable  sacri 
fice  ;  because,  gentlemen,  sanguine  as  I  am  of  the 
future  prosperity  of  the  country,  strongly  as  I 
believe  now,  after  what  has  passed,  and  especially 
after  the  enactment  of  those  measures  to  which  I 


THE    FUTURE.  179 

have  referred,  that  it  is  likely  to  hold  together,  1 
yet  believe  that  this  Union  once  broken  is  incapable, 
according  to  all  human  experience,  of  being  recon 
structed  in  its  original  character,  of  being  rece- 
niented  by  any  chemistry,  or  art,  or  effort,  or  skill 
of  man." 

While  I  cannot  doubt  the  correctness  of  the  con 
clusion,  in  which  all  these  great  men  agree,  that 
constitutional  Union  cannot  be  preserved  without 
the  cordial  cooperation  of  the  people  of  every  sec 
tion  of  the  country,  I  am  unwilling  to  surrender 
the  hope  that  common  interests,  mutual  dependence, 
and  the  associations  of  the  past  will  not  suffice  again 
to  bind  together  the  dissevered  parts  of  the  nation, 
if  we  shall  adopt  a  policy  of  moderation  and  mag 
nanimity  which  will  permit  the  jealousies  and  fears 
which  caused  this  great  convulsion  to  be  allayed,  and 
the  angry  passions  which  it  has  aroused  to  subside. 
But  the  policy  of  coercion  contemplates  another 
alternative :  that  of  subverting  the  existing  consti 
tutions  of  the  States  now  in  rebellion,  and  readmit 
ting  them  into  the  Union  with  such  modifications 
and  restrictions  of  their  constitutional  rights  as  we 
shall  deem  most  consistent  with  our  own  future 
prosperity.  The  consequences  of  such  a  course  to 
them  and  to  ourselves  will  form  the  subject  of  the 
following  chapters. 


180  THE    FUTURE. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

Senator  Sumncr's  Plan  of  Territorial  Governments  for  the  South — 
The  President's  Plan  of  "  Reconstruction" — A  detailed  Explana 
tion  of  the  latter — Delusive  character  of  the  apparent  Intention  to 
submit  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  to  the  Supreme  Court — 
The  Plan  contemplates  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  by  a  revolution 
ary  overthrow  of  the  State  Constitutions — Nature  of  the  Popular 
Element  of  the  "reconstructed"  State  Governments — Probability 
of  the  acceptance  of  the  Terms  of  Amnesty  by  the  Southern 
People  now  within  our  Lines — Readiness  of  the  Baser  Element 
of  a  Conquered  People  to  ingratiate  itself  with  the  Conqueror — 
Illustrations  of  this  Principle  by  the  Conduct  of  Individuals  in 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  South  Carolina  during 
the  Revolutionary  War — Efforts  of  the  British  Authorities  to 
reestablish  Civil  Rule  in  South  Carolina  in  the  years  1780-1781  — 
Their  apparent  success  in  bringing  the  People  back  to  their 
Allegiance — Their  Severities  towards  those  who  refused  to  ac 
knowledge  themselves  British  Subjects. 

I  ASSUME  that  the  people  are  nearly  unanimously 
of  the  opinion  that  the  existing  military  govern 
ments  of  the  southern  States  must  he  superseded  by 
civil  governments  of  some  kind,  as  soon  as  it  is 
practicable  to  do  so,  with  safety  to  the  authority 
of  the  nation,  and  with  due  regard  to  the  principles 
which  pervade  our  political  framework.  I  need 
not,  therefore,  consume  any  time  in  pointing  out  the 
inconveniences  and  dangers,  attending  an  attempt 
permanently  to  maintain  the  present  system. 


THE    FUTURE.  181 

There  are  two  schemes  of  reestablishing  civil 
rule,  which  have  met  with  favor  among  those  who 
desire  to  escape,  for  a  time  at  least,  from  the  neces 
sity  of  confiding  the  reins  of  Government  in  the 
States  to  the  hands  of  officers  elected  by  the  people, 
and  responsible  to  the  people.  One  of  these  is  the 
plan,  the  recommendation  of  which  is  the  object  of 
the  article  which  has  already  been  frequently  com 
mented  upon  in  these  pages,  entitled,  "  Our  Domes 
tic  Relations."  It  is  stated  in  the  words  of  that 
article  to  be  "  the  establishment  of  provisional 
governments  under  the  authority  of  Congress,  or 
simply  by  making  the  admission  or  recognition  of 
the  States  depend  upon  the  action  of  Congress." 
The  latter  clause  of  the  sentence  is  not  very  intelli 
gible,  if  the  whole  is  regarded  as  the  statement  of 
two  alternatives ;  but  as  the  article  commences 
with  an  attack  upon  the  system  of  military  govern 
ments,  and  as  its  whole  scope  is  designed  to  show 
that  the  southern  States  have  been  reduced  to  the 
territorial  condition,  and  that  the  public  interests 
will  not  for  the  present  allow  the  participation  of 
the  people  in  the  Government,  the  author's  meaning 
is  sufficiently  clear.  It  is  that  Congress  shall  create 
in  the  conquered  region,  governments  corresponding 
to  those  which  have  formerly  been  erected  in  the 
western  part  of  the  country,  in  the  first  stages  of 
territorial  existence ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  legis 
lative,  executive,  and  judicial  functions  shall  be 


182  THE    FUTURE. 

administered  by  officers  nominated  by  the  Presi 
dent,  and  appointed  by  him,  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  a  Senate,  composed  wholly  of  members 
from  the  States  which  have  remained  loyal  through 
out  the  war.  Whether  the  boundaries  of  the  new 
territories  are  to  correspond  with  those  of  the  exist 
ing  States,  is  not  very  apparent,  nor,  as  I  should 
judge  from  the  author's  course  of  reasoning,  is  it 
considered  as  very  important.  The  time  during 
w^hich  the  territories  thus  erected,  would  be  gov 
erned  in  the  manner  pointed  out,  is  not  designated  ; 
except  that  it  is  said  in  terms  rather  vague  and 
indefinite  in  themselves,  but  sufficiently  intelligible 
to  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  idiosyncrasies  of 
the  class  of  politicians  to  which  the  author  belongs, 
that  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress  is  to  be  "  employed 
for  the  happiness,  welfare  and  renown  of  the  Ame 
rican  people,  changing  slavery  into  freedom,  and 
present  chaos  into  a  cosmos  of  perpetual  beauty 
and  power."  And  when  the  indefinite  future  shall 
have  brought  around  the  period  in  which  the 
"  cosmos  "  alluded  to  shall  be  in  full  working  order, 
it  is  proposed  that  Congress  shall  erect  new  States 
out  of  the  territories,  and  admit  them  into  the 
Union.  Such  is  the  future  to  which  a  senator  of 
the  United  States,  the  idol  of  his  own  State,  and 
one  of  the  recognized  leaders  of  a  great  and  now 
dominant  party,  invites  the  American  people. 
Startling  as  it  may  appear  ;  dangerous  and  destruc- 


THE    FUTURE.  183 

live  to  peace,  public  order,  public  liberty  and 
national  prosperity  as  it  is  sure  to  prove,  it  will 
lead  us  to  our  ruin  by  a  less  direct  road,  and  topple 
the  nation  over  a  precipice  less  awful  than  the 
other  plan,  the  deformities  of  which  are  disguised 
under  an  appearance  of  respect  to  popular  rights, 
and  observance  of  the  forms  of  popular  government. 
I  refer  to  the  "  plan  of  reconstruction  "  proposed  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his  message  to 
Congress  of  the  eighth  of  December,  eighteen  hun 
dred  and  sixty-three,  which  derives  a  peculiar  im 
portance  from  the  official  station  of  its  author,  and 
which  I  shall  therefore  consider  at  some  length. 

In  discussing  this  proposed  measure,  it  must  be 
observed  at  the  outset,  that  the  scheme  is  as  yet 
(January,  1864)  but  partially  developed.  The  pro 
posed  "  reconstruction  "  cannot  be  completed  with 
out  the  action  of  Congress.  For  the  Constitution 
reserves  to  each  branch  of  the  national  Legislature 
the  exclusive  right  "  to  be  the  judge  of  the  election 
returns  and  qualifications  of  its  own  members  ;" 
and  consequently  it  will  devolve  upon  Congress 
to  provide,  by  legislation  or  by  the  separate  action 
of  the  two  Houses,  in  what  manner  and  upon 
what  terms  the  "  reconstructed "  States  shall  be 
represented  in  that  body.  This  the  President  con 
cedes  ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  intimates  his  wil 
lingness  to  accept  such  modifications  of  his  plan  as 
shall  not  be  inconsistent  with  its  leading  features. 


THE    FUTURE. 


We  may  therefore  reasonably  expect  that  the  Presi 
dent's  plan  will  receive  further  developments  of  its 
details,  and  probably  some  new  features,  before  it 
will  be  adopted  as  the  one  plan,  which  commands 
the  approbation  of  all  those  who  are  unwilling  to 
have  the  war  close  with  a  simple  restoration  of  the 
seceding  States  to  the  Union,  so  that  "  their  consti 
tutions  and  laws,  customs,  habits  and  institutions 
will  remain  the  same."  *  But  it  is  not  probable  that 
its  foundation  or  its  framework  will  undergo  any 
material  alteration  ;  and  these  contain  within  them 
selves  the  germ  of  mischiefs  and  dangers,  which 
cannot  be  averted  or  indeed  appreciably  dimin 
ished  by  any  modification  of  its  eletnils.  We  will 
therefore  consider  it  with  reference  to  such  of  its 
features  as  are  likely  to  remain  unaltered. 

The  foundation  of  the  plan  is  contained  in  an 
executive  proclamation,  a  copy  of  which,  bearing 
even  date  with  the  message,  is  appended  to  the 
latter,  and  in  which  the  President  declares  and 
makes  known  to  all  persons  who  have  participated 
in  the  rebellion,  with  the  exceptions  thereafter 
specified,  that  a  full  pardon  is  granted  to  them,  with 
the  restoration  of  all  rights  of  property  (except  as 
to  slaves  and  in  cases  where  the  rights  of  third  per 
sons  have  intervened),  "  upon  the  condition  that 
every  such  person  shall  take  and  subscribe  an  oath, 

*  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr.  Dayton,  April  22,  1861.— 
Ante,  p.  80. 


THE    FUTURE.  185 

and  thenceforward  keep  and  maintain  said  oath 
inviolate,"  which  oath  is  then  set  forth  in  the  fol 
lowing  words : 

u  I, ,  do  solemnly  swear,  in  presence  of 

Almighty  God,  that  I  will  henceforth  faithfully 
support,  protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  the  union  of  States  thereunder, 
and  that  I  will  in  like  manner  abide  by  and  faith 
fully  support  all  acts  of  Congress,  passed  during  the 
existing  rebellion,  with  reference  to  slaves,  so  long 
and  so  far  as  not  repealed,  modified  or  made  void 
by  Congress  or  by  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court ; 
and  that  I  will  in  like  manner  abide  by  and  faith 
fully  support  all  proclamations  of  the  President 
made  during  the  existing  rebellion,  having  reference 
to  slaves,  so  long  and  so  far  as  not  modified  and 
declared  void  by  the  Supreme  Court.  So  help  me 
God  !" 

The  President  excludes  from  the  benefit  of  the 
proclamation,  all  who  are  or  have  been  civil  or 
diplomatic  oificers  or  agents  of  the  Confederate 
government,  or  military  officers  above  the  rank  of 
colonel,  or  naval  officers  above  the  rank  of  lieuten 
ant  ;  all  who  left  judicial  stations  under  the  United 
States,  or  seats  in  the  United  States  Congress,  or 
resigned  commissions  in  the  United  States  army  or 
navy  to  aid  the  rebellion  ;  and  all  who  have  been 
engaged  in  treating  colored  soldiers  or  persons  cap 
tured  while  in  the  United  States  service,  or  white 


186  THE  FUTURE.  - 

persons  in  charge  of  them,  otherwise  than  as  prison 
ers  of  war.  It  is  proper  to  say  in  this  place,  that 
the  message  obscurely  intimates  that  at  some  future 
time  (not  specified)  some  of  these  exceptions  may 
possibly  be  removed ;  but  as  it  is  obviously  impos 
sible  to  give  any  practical  effect  to  such  a  vague 
and  indefinite  intimation,  it  must  necessarily  be 
laid  entirely  out  of  view  in  considering  the  work 
ing  of  the  scheme. 

Upon  this  foundation  the  President  proposes  to 
erect  the  superstructure  of  State  government.  He 
declares  in  the  proclamation  that  whenever  in  any 
of  the  seceding  States,  except  Virginia,  a  number 
of  persons,  equal  to  not  less  than  one-tenth  of  the 
voters  at  the  last  presidential  election,  "  each  hav 
ing  taken  the  oath  aforesaid,  and  not  having  since 
violated  it,  and  being  a  qualified  voter  by  the  elec 
tion  law  of  the  State  existing  immediately  before 
the  so-called  act  of  secession,  and  excluding  all 
others,  shall  reestablish  a  State  government,  which 
shall  be  republican,  and  in  no  wise  contravening 
said  oath,  such  shall  be  recognized  as  the  true 
government  of  the  State,"  and  shall  receive  from 
the  United  States  the  benefit  of  the  constitutional 
guaranty  of  a  republican  form  of  government,  and 
against  invasion  or  domestic  violence. 

The  first  question  which  will  naturally  suggest 
itself  to  the  mind  is,  what  is  to  be  the  constitution 
of  a  new  State  formed  under  this  scheme  ?  Does 


THE    FUTURE.  187 

the  President  contemplate  merely  that  loyal  and 
anti-slavery  persons  are  to  be  designated  to  fill  the 
offices  created  under  the  existing  constitution,  and 
that  they  are  to  administer  the  functions  of  govern 
ment  under  that  constitution,  leaving  it  to  the 
Supreme  Court  to  decide  whether  the  emancipation 
proclamation  has  had  the  effect  to  alter  it  by 
abolishing  the  institution  of  slavery  ?  Or,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  his  scheme  an  invitation  extended  to 
one-tenth  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  State,  to  organize 
a  new  political  community  with  such  a  constitution 
as  they  may  choose  to  adopt,  provided  that  it  shall 
be  republican  in  form,  and  shall  prohibit  slavery  ? 
This  doubt  arises  in  consequence  of  the  obscurity 
which  lurks  in  the  phrase,  "  shall  reestablish  a  State 
government,  which  shall  be  republican,  and  in  no 
wise  contravening  said  oath."  It  would  seem  at 
first  sight,  from  the  fact  that  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  is  apparently  invoked,  that  the  first 
of  these  two  alternatives  is  the  one  contemplated ; 
and  yet  if  that  is  the  case,  why  did  the  President 
provide  that  the  new  State  government  was  to  be 
"  republican,"  thus  intimating  that  its  form  was  not 
to  depend  upon  the  existing  constitution,  but  to  be 
prescribed  by  him  ;  and  why  did  he  not  say  ex 
pressly  that  it  was  to  be  established  under  the 
former  constitution  ?  A  further  examination  of  the 
details  of  his  scheme  will  show  that  with  respect  to 
the  proposed  submission  of  his  emancipation  pro- 


183  THE    FUTURE. 

clamation  to  a  judicial  decision,  the  word  of  promise 
is  merely  kept  to  the  ear ;  and  that  what  he  really 
requires,  as  a  condition  of  recognizing  the  new 
government,  is  that  the  loyal  one-tenth  shall  ASSUME 

TO    FORM    A    NEW    CONSTITUTION,     wllicll     shall    by    its 

terms  MAKE  THE  PROCLAMATION  VALID,  and  thus  pre 
clude  the  possibility  of  procuring  a  judicial  decision 
upon  it.  I  quote  from  another  part  of  the  procla 
mation  of  December  8,  1863,  italicizing  two  pas 
sages,  which  show  conclusively  that  abolition  of 
slavery  by  the  authority  of  the  new  government,  is 
a  condition  of  recognition  sine  qua  noil  : 

"  And  I  do  further  proclaim  and  make  known 
that  any  provision  which  may  be  adopted  by  such 
State  government  in  relation  to  the  freed  people 
of  such  State  which  shall  recognize  and  declare  their 
permanent  freedom,  provide  for  their  education,  and 
which  may  yet  be  consistent  as  a  temporary  ar 
rangement  with  their  present  condition  as  a  labor 
ing,  landless  and  homeless  class,  will  not  be  objected 
to  by  the  national  executive." 

And  in  the  passage  which  immediately  succeeds, 
the  design  thoroughly  to  revolutionize  the  State  is 
openly  avowed.  So  little  concealment  is  attempted, 
that  the  u  loyal "  one-tenth  are  left  to  decide  for 
themselves,  the  name,  constitution  and  boundaries 
of  the  new  State  which  they  may  elect  to  form ;  and 
the  President  "  engages"  that  it  shall  not  be  deemed 
"  improper "  for  them  to  retain  in  those  respects, 


THE    FUTURE.  189 

the  characteristics  of  the  particular  State  in  which 
the  new  government  shall  be  established,  provided 
that  the  other  "  conditions "  are  duly  complied 
with.  I  quote  : 

"  And  it  is  engaged  as  not  improper  that  in  con 
structing  a  loyal  State  government  in  any  State, 
the  name  of  the  State,  the  boundary,  the  subdi 
visions,  the  constitution,  and  the  general  code  of 
laws  as  before  the  rebellion,  be  maintained,  subject 
only  to  the  modifications  made  necessary  by  the 
conditions  hereinbefore  stated,  and  such  others,  if 
any,  not  contravening  said  conditions,  and  which 
may  be  deemed  expedient  by  those  framing  the  new 
State  government."  * 

*  If  further  proof  of  the  design  to  revolutionize  the 
constitution  of  the  State  is  needed,  it  may  be  found  in  the 
circumstances  which  attended  the  germination  of  this  plan, 
which  did  not,  as  many  suppose,  originate  with  the  message 
of  last  December.  On  the  12th  of  June,  1863,  General 
Shepley,  military  governor  of  Louisiana,  ordered  a  regis 
tration  of  all  free  white  adult  male  citizens,  who  should 
take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  of  renun 
ciation  of  allegiance  to  the  Confederate  government,  of  the 
necessary  age,  and  that  the  registration  was  made  "  for 
the  purpose  of  organizing  a  State  government  in  Louisi 
ana  loyal  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States."  A 
short  time  previously,  a  committee  of  citizens  of  that  State 
had  addressed  to  the  President  a  request  that  he  would 
permit  an  election  to  be  held  under  the  existing  constitution. 
On  the  18th  day  of  June,  1863,  the  President  denied  the 
request,  alleging  among  other  reasons,  "  that  a  respectable 
portion  of  the  Louisiana  people  desire  to  amend  their  State 


THE    FUTURE. 


The  reader  will  therefore  perceive  that  I  was  not 
lacking  in  charity  towards  the  Executive,  when  in 
my  comments  upon  the  emancipation  proclamation, 
I  asserted  that  it  contained  internal  evidence  of  a 
revolutionary  design  upon  his  part,  and  that  its  pre 
amble  was  either  a  premeditated  deception  of  the 
public  or  a  proof  of  self-deception  on  the  part  of  its 
author.  The  new  State  governments  thus  ushered 
into  being  by  an  insignificant  minority,  and  main 
tained  by  the  Federal  arms,  will  be  entirely  revolu 
tionary,  as  well  with  respect  to  the  persons  who 
will  administer  them,  as  to  the  source  of  their 
authority,  and  the  provisions  of  their  organic  laws. 
If  I  have  not  entirely  mistaken  the  rightful  object 
of  the  war,  and  the  powers  and  duties  of  the 
national  Government  in  its  prosecution  and  at  its 
termination,  the  successful  establishment  of  these 
new  State  governments  will  be  a  naked,  lawless, 
forcible  usurpation.  It  will  unsettle  the  very  foun 
dations  of  our  whole  political  system,  and  set  us 
afloat  upon  a  sea  of  experiment,  against  the  dangers 
of  which  we  have  been  warned  by  every  eminent 
statesman  and  political  writer  since  the  foundation 


constitution,  and  contemplate  holding  a  convention  for 
that  object."  For  some  reason,  doubtless  in  pursuance  of 
orders  from  Washington,  the  further  progress  of  the  scheme 
has  been  suspended  ;  but  we  may  look  for  its  revival  at 
an  early  day,  with  the  oath  modified  as  required  by  the 
proclamation. 


THE    FUTURE. 


of  our  Government.  It  will  accomplish  the  con 
quest  and  subjugation  of  the  South,  and  disgrace 
our  national  name  by  a  shameless  repudiation  of 
the  public  faith  pledged  by  the  Crittenden  resolu 
tion  and  Mr.  Seward's  assurances  to  foreign  nations.* 
And  I  shall  endeavor  in  this  and  the  two  succeed 
ing  chapters  to  show  that  it  will  bring  upon  us 
calamities,  which,  great  as  they  are,  the  civilized 
world  of  to-day,  and  the  historians  of  the  future  will 


*  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  inaugural  address 
of  Governor  Bramlette,  of  Kentucky,  a  gentleman  whose 
loyalty  is  so  undoubted,  that  the  interference  of  the  Fede 
ral  army  was  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  accomplishing 
his  election,  though,  as  the  canvass  proved,  without 
necessity  : 

"  No  reconstruction  is  necessary.  The  Government  is 
complete — not  broken — not  destroyed  ;  but,  by  the  bless 
ing  of  God,  shall  endure  forever.  A  revolted  State  has 
nothing,  therefore,  to  do  but  to  cease  resistance  to  law  and 
duty,  and  return  to  its  fealty,  organize  under  its  constitu 
tion,  as  it  was  before,  and  would  be  now  but  for  the  revolt, 
and  thus  place  itself  in  harmony  with  the  Federal  Govern 
ment.  Thus,  all  that  was  suspended  by  revolt  will  be 
restored  to  action.  But  will  not  the  dominant  powers 
require  terms  other  than  these  ?  Will  they  not  require  the 
revolted  States,  as  condition  precedent  to  a  restoration  of 
their  relations,  to  adopt  either  immediate  or  gradual 
emancipation  ?  These  are  grave  questions,  and  suggestive 
of  a  dangerous  and  wicked  experiment.  We  trust  to 
plighted  word  and  constitutional  faith  as  guaranty  against 
such  an  issue.  Xothing  but  disregard  of  honor  and  the 
principles  of  humanity  can  force  such  an  issue,  and  we  will 
not  invite  an  evil  by  battling  it  into  being." 


192  THE    FUTURE. 

acknowledge  to  be  only  a  just  retribution  upon  a 
ration,  which  shall  have  signalized  its  career  by  so 
i inch  perfidy,  wickedness  and  folly. 

In  examining  the  practical  working  of  this  scheme, 
let  us  in  the  first  place  inquire  who  will  set  in 
motion  the  machinery  of  the  new  State  govern 
ments,  and  what  will  be  the  composition  of  their 
popular  element  in  the  early  stages  of  their  ex 
istence. 

It  is  not  specified  what  tribunal  is  to  determine 
whether  the  persons  wrho,  having  taken  the  oath, 
shall  present  themselves  as  electors,  are  in  fact 
qualified  under  the  former  State  laws.  It  will  be 
readily  perceived  that  questions  of  great  importance 
will  at  once  arise  upon  this  branch  of  the  scheme. 
In  two  of  these  States,  as  we  have  already  seen,*  a 
property  qualification  or  the  payment  of  a  tax  is 
requisite  to  confer  upon  a  man,  otherwise  qualified, 
the  privileges  of  electorship  ;  and  in  all  of  them, 
residence  for  a  period  more  or  less  extended,  is 
indispensable.  It  will  doubtless  be  determined  by 
act  of  Congress,  or  by  another  proclamation,  or  by 
a  special  order  of  the  commander-in-chief,  whether 
the  first  of  these  conditions  shall  stand  ;  for  of  course 
it  would  be  idle  to  quibble  about  the  power  of  the 
executive  or  legislative  department  of  the  nation  to 
maintain  or  dispense  with  a  law  of  a  State,  whose 

*  Chapter  vi.,  page  105. 


THE    FUTURE.  193 

whole  constitution  is  about  to  be  overthrown.  But 
rath  respect  to  the  fact  of  residence  of  the  proposed 
voter,  it  is  evident  that  some  tribunal  must  be 
created  to  pass  upon  each  particular  case  as  it 
arises ;  and  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  many  of  such 
cases  will  present  questions,  which  would  cause  no 
little  embarrassment  and  perplexity  to  any  tribunal 
having  no  other  object  to  attain,  than  a  fair  admin 
istration  of  the  law.  In  the  ordinary  operation  of 
the  election  laws,  in  quiet  times,  cases  of  this 
character  rarely  occur,  and  provision  is  made  for  a 
summary  determination  of  them  when  they  do 
arise ;  but  in  putting  the  President's  scheme  into 
practical  operation  in  the  South,  they  will  be  so 
numerous  that  the  personnel,  nay  the  very  existence 
of  the  new  State  governments,  will  probably  depend 
upon  the  manner  of  their  solution.  Every  cotton 
or  sugar  speculator,  every  camp-follower,  every  tide- 
waiter  of  Providence  who  has  followed  in  the  train 
of  the  conquering  army,  will  prefer  his  claim  to  be 
considered  a  "  resident,"  and  consequently  a  voter 
and  prospective  office  holder.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  a  considerable  number  of  the  soldiers  will  also 
oifer  their  votes ;  but  without  reckoning  them,  the 
number  of  men  belonging  to  the  other  classes,  who 
have  already  congregated  in  gome  of  the  States, 
parts  of  which  are  occupied  by  our  forces,  is  nearly 
if  not  quite  equal  to  one-tenth  of  the  vote  cast  by 
those  States  in  the  year  1860.  And  inasmuch  as 

9 


194  TIIE    FUTURE. 

the  new  government  is  to  go  into  operation  when 
ever  the  requisite  one-tenth  shall  have  been  secured 
in  any  State,  it  is  evident  that  if  such  men  shall  be 
admitted  to  vote  (and  their  "  loyalty "  is  not  only 
unquestioned  but  uncompromising),  they  will  con 
stitute  a  very  large,  in  some  cases  a  preponderating 
part,  of  the  persons  who  will  control  the  new 
organizations  in  the  early  stages  of  their  career. 
Whether  provision  will  be  made  by  legislation,  to 
establish  some  tribunal  to  determine  this  question, 
or  whether  its  solution  will  be  left  to  appointees  of 
the  military  power,  we  are  yet  uncertain.  But  we 
shall  doubtless  be  safe  in  assuming  that  whichever 
course  may  be  adopted,  a  very  great  liberality  will 
be  exercised  in  admitting  such  "  loyal  "  applicants 
to  vote,  either  directly  and  at  the  outset  of  the 
experiment,  or  indirectly,  by  prescribing  in  the  new 
constitutions  such  qualifications  as  will  include 
them.* 

*  It  is  assumed  that  those  who  favor  the  scheme  under 
discussion,  will  not  consider  this  remark  as  unfair  towards 
the  President  or  his  party.  It  is  not  made  in  a  satirical 
spirit,  but  merely  as  the  statement  of  a  natural  conclusion 
from  the  principles  which  they  profess.  For  if  the  scheme  is 
a  good  one,  it  is  of  course  expedient  to  facilitate  and  expe 
dite  its  operation  by  every  lawful  means  ;  and  the  greater 
the  nurnbec  of  thoroughly  loyal  persons  which  a  liberal 
construction  of  the  law,  or  liberal  provisions  in  the  consti 
tution,  will  admit  to  a  participation  in  the  elective  franchise, 
the  greater  will  be  the  basis  upon  which  the  new  govern 
ments  will  rest.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  power  of 


THE    FUTURE.  195 

Supposing  therefore  that  such  men  as  I  have 
described  will  constitute  a  considerable  proportion 
of  the  popular  element  of  the  new  State  govern- 

appointment  of  the  officers  charged  with  the  duty  of  pass 
ing  upon  the  qualifications  of  the  voters,  will  be  so  exer 
cised  as  to  insure  that  this  principle  will  be  fully  recognized 
in  one  of  the  modes  suggested. 

We  have  had  practical  proof  in  one  instance  that  such 
will  be  the  case,  although  I  will  not  charge  in  advance 
that  the  precedent  which  was  then  set,  will  be  followed 
out  in  all  its  details.  I  refer  to  the  elections  for  repre 
sentatives  iu  Congress,  which  were  held  in  Louisiana  under 
the  administration  of  General  Butler,  in  December,  1862. 
It  has  never  been  denied  that  the  liberality  practised  upon 
that  occasion  in  the  reception  of  votes,  was,  to  use  no 
harsher  term,  excessive.  I  have  taken  considerable  pains 
to  ascertain  the  extent  of  the  abuses  which  were  alleged, 
upon  newspaper  authority,  to  have  existed  in  that  canvass; 
and  for  that  purpose  I  have  corresponded  with  Union  men 
of  high  character,  residents  of  New  Orleans  at  the  time  of 
the  act  of  secession,  and  also  during  General  Butler's 
administration.  I  annex  extracts  from  two  of  the  letters 
upon  the  subject  which  I  have  received.  One  of  my  cor 
respondents  writes  : 

"  The  Federal  officers  at  the  polls  decided  who  should 
and  who  should  not  vote.  I  do  not  know  of  more  than 
five  or  six  of  the  old  residents  who  voted  at  that  election. 
No  registry  was  required,  and  I  have  always  been  surprised, 
under  all  the  circumstances,  that  the  vote  was  so  small." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  another  letter,  written 
by  a  gentleman  who  held  a  high  official  position  at  New 
Orleans  in  the  year  1860,  now,  I  believe,  permanently  a 
resident  of  New  York  : 

"  According  to  the  laws  of  Louisiana,  the  names  of  the 
qualified  voters  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans  must  be  regis- 


196  THE    FUTURE. 

merits,  let  ns  inquire  whether  any  great  number  of 
the  native  population  will  probably  join  with  them, 
either  in  inaugurating  the  new  system,  or  in  volun- 

tered."  (By  an  order  of  General  Shepley,  dated  Novem 
ber  22,  1862,  this  registry  was  dispensed  with.)  "  Under 
the  administration  of  General  Butler,  no  one  was  allowed 
to  vote  without  having  previously  taken  the  oath  of  alle 
giance.  The  great  majority  of  the  voters  were  in  the 
employment  of  the  Federal  authorities.  Col.  Thorp,  the 
street  commissioner,  had  in  his  employment  a  large  number 
of  Irishmen  and  Germans  (not  qualified  voters)  to  clean 
the  streets  and  the  levee,  and  dig  canals,  &c.  They  took 
the  oath  to  get  work,  and  having  taken  it,  they  were 
allowed  the  privilege  of  voting,  provided  they  voted  as  they 
were  told  to.  Soldiers  and  foreigners  voted  because  they 
had  been  six  months  in  the  State,  arid  because  it  was  for 
their  interest  to  declare  themselves  Union  men.  Naturali 
zation  papers  were  not  required — it  was  enough  to  have 
been  six  months  in  the  State,  and  to  be  a  '  ioyal '  citizen. 
Great  frauds  were  perpetrated  ;  tickets  thrust  into  the  box 
by  the  quantity,  in  order  to  make  it  appear  that  the  vote 
was  large.  Such  were  the  results  of  a  popular  election  held 
under  the  benign  influence  of  bayonets." 

I  procured  an  early  copy  of  Mr.  Parton's  new  work, 
"  General  Butler  in  New  Orleans,"  expecting  to  find  in  so 
bulky  a  history  of  so  brief  a  period  a  detailed  account  of 
the  circumstances  attending  this  election — certainly  one  of 
the  most  important  events  of  General  Butler's  administra 
tion,  and  affording  conclusive  evidence  of  that  wisdom  and 
ability  which  the  author  claims  for  his  hero,  if  it  consti 
tuted  a  true  test  of  the  loyalty  of  the  people  of  New 
Orleans.  But  it  is  disposed  of  in  a  few  brief  sentences  on 
page  595  of  the  book  ;  and  the  character  of  the  vote  is 
described  in  words,  which,  if  they  were  intended  to  bear 
their  most  obvious  signification,  afford  a  rare  instance  of 


THE    FUTURE.  197 

tarily  accepting  it  after  it  shall  be  in  operation ; 
and  if  so,  what  will  be  the  character  and  social 
status  of  the  repentant  rebels. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  the  feelings  of  the 
people  in  the  State  of  Tennessee.  The  adherents 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy  being  now  pretty 
effectually  driven  out  of  that  State,  and  a  large 
part  of  its  population  having  been  not  only  Unionists 
but  anti-slavery  men,  during  the  whole  of  the  con 
troversy,  probably  a  much  larger  proportion  of  the 
actual  and  lond  fide  residents  than  the  required  one- 
tenth  will  be  willing  to  take  the  oath,  and  to  set 
the  wheels  of  the  new  government  in  motion.  In 
Arkansas  there  have  been,  since  its  occupation, 
some  very  unequivocal  manifestations  of  Union 
feeling ;  but  to  what  extent  it  prevails,  and  whether 
any  considerable  number  of  the  people  yet  remain 
ing  in  that  State,  have  become  nut  only  Union 
ists  but  anti-slavery  propagandists,  we  are  yet 
without  sufficient  data  to  determine.  In  those 
parts  of  Louisiana  which  we  hold,  there  is  a  class 
of  men  (most  of  them,  I  am  informed,  original  advo 
cates  of  secession),  whose  numbers  it  is  as  yet 
impossible  to  estimate,  who  are  not  only  ready  to 
take  any  oath  which  may  be  prescribed  as  a  con- 
ingenuous  candor,  Mr.  Part  on  says  :  "  The  canvass  was 
spirited,  and  no  restriction  was  placed  upon  the  vcting,  except 
to  exclude  those  who  had  not  taken  the  oath  of  alle 
giance  1" 


198  THE    FUTURE. 

dition  precedent  to  holding  office,  but  are  now  so 
intensely  anti-slavery,  that  they  propose  to  admit 
the  blacks  to  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage. 
Inasmuch  however  as  our  troops  only  hold  in  Louisi 
ana  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi  river,  with 
that  portion  of  the  State  which  lies  between  the 
State  of  Mississippi  and  the  Gulf,  and  a  strip  of 
coast  west  of  the  mouth  of  the  river,  it  is  impossible 
to  determine  at  present  by  practical  proof,  whether 
any  considerable  number  of  the  population  are 
willing  to  return  to  their  allegiance  upon  the  terms 
proposed.  For  a  similar  reason,  we  have  no  suf 
ficient  means  of  ascertaining  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  of  North  Carolina,  Texas,  or  the  dismem 
bered  St-ate  of  Virginia.  In  the  other  seceding 
States,  we  do  not  occupy  soil  enough  to  call  it  cor 
rectly  a  foot-hold. 

Within  the  districts  over  which  our  lines  extend, 
there  are  a  number  of  persons  who  have  been  pre 
vented  by  age,  sickness,  poverty,  accident,  or  other 
causes,  from  leaving  the  country  when  the  Con 
federate  army  retired.  Some  of  these  persons  are 
doubtless  Unionists  from  conviction,  possibly  alse 
anti-slavery  men  ;  but  I  have  already  assigned  my 
reasons  for  believing  that  outside  of  the  State  of 
Tennessee,  the  class  even  of  sincere  Unionists  com 
prises  but  a  comparatively  small  number  of  the 
population.  To  these  unfortunates  the  President 
proposes  to  offer  Mahomet's  choice,  the  Koran  or 


THE    FUTURE.  199 

the  sword.  And  human  nature  is  so  weak,  that  it 
is  not  at  all  improbable  that  a  considerable  number 
of  them  will  take  the  requisite  oath,  rather  than 
expose  themselves  to  their  only  other  alternative  of 
military  plunder,  civil  confiscation,  and  criminal 
prosecutions.  And  we  may  also  be  sure  that  the 
number  of  those  who  will  have  the  constancy  to 
hold  out  against  such  powerful  inducements  to  sub 
mit,  will  be  greater  or  less,  as  fortune  shall  in  the 
ensuing  campaigns  favor  or  frown  upon  the  Con 
federate  arms.  For  modern  history  offers  no  ex 
ception  to  the  proposition  that  among  every  people 
struggling  for  independence,  however  high-minded 
the  general  tone  of  the  national  character,  there 
will  be  found  many  who,  whenever  the  tide  of 
success  has  apparently  turned  against  their  cause, 
will  hasten  to  give  in  their  adherence  to  that  of  the 
conqueror,  and  purchase  his  forgiveness  and  their 
own  security  upon  any  terms,  however  humiliating. 
This  proved  to  be  true  even  among  our  ancestors 
of  the  revolutionary  war,  whom  we  are  accustomed 
to  regard  as  the  purest  people,  engaged  in  the 
holiest  cause  of  which  history  makes  mention. 
And  as  I  have  already*  stated  in  what  manner  the 
ministerial  party  in  England  continued  from  time 
to  time  to  buoy  up  the  hopes  of  their  party  with 
assurances  of  a  speedy  triumph  over  the  colonists,  I 

*  See  note  at  the  conclusion  of  chapter  vii. 


200  THE    FUTURE. 

will  conclude  this  chapter  witli  some  passages  from 
"  Botta's  History  of  the  War  of  Independence," 
which  will  exhibit  some  of  the  foundations  upon 
which  they  built  their  expectations.  I  insert  these 
extracts,  chiefly  because  I  shall  use  them  in  the 
next  chapter  to  fortify  the  d priori  argument  that  a 
government  resting  upon  a  hollow  oath,  compul- 
sorily  administered  to  the  southern  people,  will 
endure  just  as  long  as  it  is  sustained  by  military 
force  and  no  longer.  But  incidentally  the  passages 
in  question  may  guard  us  against  the  error  of 
anticipating  too  speedy  a  downfall  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  from  causes  which  were  in  full  opera 
tion,  it  will  be  seen,  among  their  and  our  common 
ancestors,  and  which,  nevertheless,  did  not  prevent 
the  ultimate  success  of  the  Revolution.* 

The  first  period  to  which  the  extracts  relate,  is  the 
fall  of  the  year  1776,  immediately  after  the  battle 
of  Long  Island,  the  battle  of  White  Plains,  and 

*  It  is  perhaps  proper  that  I  should  say  here  that  the 
extracts  contained  in  this  and  the  next  succeeding  chapter 
are  introduced  into  the  text,  merely  as  aids  in  the  prosecu 
tion  of  a  philosophical  inquiry,  and  not  actually  to  compare 
the  Confederate  cause  with  that  of  our  ancestors.  To  the- 
mind  of  the  southerners  there  appears  to  be  not  merely  a 
resemblance,  but  a  perfect  coincidence  between  the  two  ; 
and  hence  their  conduct  will  in  all  probability  be  governed 
by  the  same  feelings,  principles  and  motives  as  those  which 
actuated  the  revolutionary  patriots  under  similar  circum 
stances.  But  my  comparison  goes  no  further,  and  Dr. 
Botta's  expressions  of  partiality  for  the  American  side  of 


THE    FUTURE.  201 

the  loss  of  Forts  Washington  and  Lee.  Dr.  Botta 
says : 

"  These  successive  checks,  the  loss  of  the  two 
forts,  Washington  and  Lee,  and  especially  the  ex 
cessive  vigor  of  the  attack,  which  had  constrained 
the  first  to  surrender,  produced  a  deplorable  change 
in  the  fortune  of  the  Americans.  They  beheld  all 
at  once  what  the  fatal  battle  of  Brooklyn  had  not 
been  able  to  operate — the  dissolution  of  their 
army. 

"  The  militia  disbanded,  and  precipitately  retired 
to  their  habitations  ;  even  the  regular  troops,  as  if 
struck  with  despair,  also  filed  off,  and  deserted  in 
parties. 

"  Everything,  at  this  period  of  the  war,  threatened 
America  with  an  inevitable  catastrophe. 

"  The  army  of  Washington  was  so  enfeebled,  that 
it  scarcely  amounted  to  three  thousand  men,  who 
had  lost  all  courage  and  all  energy,  and  were 
exposed  in  an  open  country,  without  instruments  to 
intrench  themselves,  without  tents  to  shelter  them 
from  the  inclemency  of  the  season,  and  in  the  midst 

the  war  are  transcribed,  only  because  the  sentences  which 
contain  them  contain  also  facts  and  illustrations  which  my 
argument  requires  me  to  use,  and  they  could  not  be  altered 
or  suppressed  without  garbling  his  language  or  rendering 
his  meaning  obscure. 

I  should  not  have  thought  this  explanation  necessary 
were  it  not  that  much  of  the  loyalty  of  to-day  is,  in  every 
sense  of  the  word,  suspicious. 

9* 


202  THE    FUTURE. 

of  a  population  little  zealous,  or  rather  hostile 
towards  the  republic. 

"The  general  of  Congress  had  to  face  a  victorious 
army,  more  than  twenty  thousand  strong,  composed 
entirely  of  disciplined  and  veteran  troops.  The 
excellent  generals  who  commanded  it,  using  the 
ardor  inspired  by  victory,  pursued  their  advantages 
with  vivacity,  and  flattered  themselves  that  a  few 
days  would  suffice  to  crush  the  wrecks  of  the  repub 
lican  army,  and  put  an  end  to  the  war 

The  greater  part  of  their  "  (the  Americans)  "  feeble 
army  consisted  in  militia,  almost  all  from  New 
Jersey.  These  were  either  of  suspicious  fidelity,  or 
desirous  of  returning  to  their  habitations,  to  rescue 
their  property  and  families  from  the  perils  that 
menaced  them.  The  few  regular  soldiers  who  still 
remained  with  their  colors,  completed  their  term  of 
service  with  the  expiration  of  the  year ;  it  was 
therefore  to  be  feared  that  this  phantom  of  an 
army  would  vanish  entirely  in  the  space  of  a  few 
days. 

"  In  so  profound  a  distress,  the  American  general 
could  not  hope  to  receive  prompt  or  sufficient  re 
inforcements Upon  the  heel  of  so  many  dis 
asters,  was  the  imminent  danger  of  seditions  on  the 
part  of  the  disaffected,  who  in  various  places  loudly 
invoked  the  name  of  England.  An  insurrection 
appeared  ready  to  explode  in  the  county  of  Mon- 
mouth,  in  this  very  province  of  New  Jersey,  so  that 


THE    FUTURE.  203 

Washington  found  himself  constrained  to  detach  a 
part  of  his  army,  already  a  mere  skeleton,  to  over 
awe  the  agitators.  The  presence  of  a  victorious 
royal  army  had  dissipated  the  terror  with,  which 
the  patriots  at  first  had  inspired  the  loyalists.  They 
began  to  abandon  themselves  without  reserve  to  all 
the  fury  which  animated  them  against  their  adver 
saries.  The  English  commissioners  determined  to 
avail  themselves  of  this  disposition  of  the  inhab 
itants  to  revolt  against  the  authority  of  Congress. 
Accordingly,  the  two  brothers  Howe  drew  up  a  pro 
clamation,  which  they  circulated  profusely  through 
out  the  country.  They  commanded  all  those  who 
had  arms  in  hand  to  disperse  and  return  to  their  habi 
tations  ;  and  all  those  who  exercised  civil  magis 
tracies,  to  cease  their  functions  and  divest  them 
selves  of  their  usurped  authority.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  they  offered  a  full  pardon  to  all  such  as 
v/ithin  the  space  of  sixty  days  should  present  them 
selves  before  the  civil  or  military  officers  of  the 
crown,  declaring  their  intention  to  take  the  benefit 
of  the  amnesty,  and  promising  a  sincere  return  to 
the  obedience  due  to  the  laws  and  to  the  royal 
authority.  This  proclamation  had  the  effect  which 
the  commissioners  had  promised  themselves  from  it. 
A  multitude  of  persons  of  every  rank,  availing 
themselves  of  the  clemency  of  the  victor,  came  daily 
to  implore  his  forgiveness,  and  to  protest  their  sub 
mission. 


204:  THE    FUTURE. 

"  It  was  remarked,  however,  that  they  belonged, 
for  the  greater  part,  to  the  class  of  the  very  poor,  or 
of  the  very  rich.  The  inhabitants  of  a  middle  con 
dition  manifested  more  constancy  in  their  opinions. 
Several  of  the  newly  reconciled  had  occupied  the 
first  stations  in  the  popular  order  of  things ;  they 
had  been  members  either  of  the  provincial  govern 
ment,  or  of  the  council  of  general  safety,  or  of  the 
tribunals  of  justice.  They  excused  themselves  by 
saying  that  they  had  only  acted,  in  what  they  had 
hitherto  done,  with  a  view  to  promote  the  public 
welfare,  and  to  prevent  greater  disorders ;  they 
alleged,  finally,  that  they  had  been  drawn  in  by 
their  parents  and  friends,  whom  they  were  unable 
to  refuse.  Those  who  had  contemplated  them  in 
all  their  arrogance,  and  who  saw  them  then  so 
ineek,  so  submissive,  and  so  humble  in  their  words, 
could  scarcely  persuade  themselves  that  they  were 
indeed  the  same  individuals.  But  men  of  this 
stamp  dread  much  less  to  be  considered  inconstant 
and  perfidious,  than  rebels  to  the  laws  of  the 
strongest ;  they  much  prefer  to  escape  danger  with 
infamy,  than  to  encounter  it  with  honor.  ]STor  was 
it  only  in  New  Jersey,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
victorious  royal  troops,  that  these  abrupt  changes 
of  party  were  observed  ;  the  inhabitants  of  Penn 
sylvania  flocked  in  like  manner  to  humble  them 
selves  at  the  feet  of  the  English  commissioners,  and 
to  promise  them  fealty  and  obedience.  Among 


THE    FUTURE.  205 

others,  there  came  the  Galloways,  the  family  of  the 
Aliens,  and  some  others  of  the  most  wealthy  and 
repntahle.  The  example  became  pernicious,  and 
the  most  prejudicial  effects  were  to  be  apprehended 
from  it.  Every  day  ushered  in  some  new  calamity; 
the  cause  of  America  seemed  hastening  to  irre 
trievable  ruin/' — Otis's  Translation,  vol.  i.,  pp. 
389-391. 

Mortifying  as  this  chapter  of  history  cannot  fail 
to  prove  to  our  northern  pride,  the  conduct  of  many 
of  our  southern  brethren,  under  similar  circum 
stances,  was  even  more  abject.  The  next  period 
to  which  I  will  ask  the  reader's  attention,  is  no  less 
than  four  years  later.  It  is  that  which  succeeded  the 
fall  of  Charleston,  in  the  year  1780.  Our  author 
says : 

"  As  soon  as  General  Clinton  had  taken  posses 
sion  of  that  capital,  he  hastened  to  take  all  those 
measures,  civil  as  well  as  military,  which  were 
judged  proper  for  the  reestablishment  of  order ;  he 
then  made  his  dispositions  for  recovering  the  rest 
of  the  province,  where  everything  promised  to 
anticipate  the  will  of  the  victor.  Determined  to 
follow  up  his  success,  before  his  own  people  should 
have  time  to  cool,  or  the  enemy  to  take  breath,  he 

planned  three  expeditions All  three  were 

completely  successful ;  the  inhabitants  nocked  from 
all  parts  to  meet  the  royal  troops,  declaring  their 
desire  to  resume  their  ancient  allegiance,  and  offer- 


206  THE    FUTURE. 

ing  to  defend  the  royal  cause  with  arms  in  hand. 
Many  even  of  the  inhabitants  of  Charleston,  excited 
by  the  proclamation  of  the  British  general,  mani 
fested  a  like  zeal  to  combat  under  his  banners.  .  .  . 
Such  was  the  devotion,  either  real  or  feigned,  of  the 
inhabitants  towards  the  king;  such  was  their  terror, 
or  their  desire  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  the 
victor,  that  not  content  with  coming  in  from  every 
quarter  to  offer  their  services  in  support  of  the  royal 
government,  they  dragged  in  their  train,  as  prison 
ers,  those  friends  of  liberty,  whom  they  had  lately 
obeyed  with  such  parade  of  zeal,  and  whom  they 
now  denominated  their  oppressors." — Id.,  vol.  ii., 
p.  251. 

The  author  then  describes  Tarleton's  victory  over 
Colonel  Buford  at  "Waxhaw  Creek ;  after  which  he 
continues  : 

"  This  reverse  destroyed  the  last  hopes  of  the 
Carolinians,  and  was  soon  followed  by  their  sub 
mission  General  Clinton  wrote  to  London,  that 
South  Carolina  was  become  English  again,  and 
that  there  were  few  men  in  the  province  who  were 
not  prisoners  to,  or  in  arms  with  the  British  forces. 
But  he  was  perfectly  aware  that  the  conquest  he 
owed  to  his  arms  could  not  be  preserved  but  by  the 
entire  reestablishment  of  the  civil  administration. 
To  this  end,  he  deemed  it  essential  to  put  minds  at 
rest  by  the  assurance  of  amnesty,  and  to  oblige  the 
inhabitants  to  contribute  to  the  defence  of  the 


TIIE    FUTURE.  .207 

country,  and  to  the  restoration  of  the  royal  au 
thority.  Accordingly,  in  concert  with  Admiral 
Arbuthnot,  he  published  a  full  and  absolute  par 
don  in  fevor  of  those  who  should  immediately  return 
to  their  duty,  promising  that  no  offence  and  trans 
gressions  heretofore  committed  in  consequence  of 
political  troubles,  should  be  subject  to  any  investi 
gation  whatever General  Clinton,  seeing 

the  province  in  tranquillity,  and  the  ardor,  which 
appeared  universal,  of  the  inhabitants  to  join  the 
royal  standard,  distributed  his  army  in  the  most 
important  garrisons ;  when,  leaving  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  in  command  of  all  the  forces  stationed  in 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  he  departed  from 
Charleston  for  his  government  of  New  York." — Id., 
pp.  252,  253. 

Measures  were  then  taken  to  reestablish  com 
pletely  the  English  administration,  which  had  the 
greater  effect,  because  the  impression  spread  among 
the  people  that  Congress  had  abandoned  them  to 
their  fate.  In  truth,  however,  the  expedition  of 
General  Gates  was  ra.pidly  organizing  for  their 
relief.  "  But,"  says  our  author,  "  the  prisoners  of 
Carolina  knew  nothing  of  what  passed  without,  and 
from  day  to  day  they  became  more  confirmed  in 
the  idea  that  their  country  would  remain  under 
British  domination.  Thus,  between  choice  and  com 
pulsion,  the  multitude  resumed  the  bonds  of  sub 
mission.  But  the  English'  could  have  wished  to 


208.  THE    "FUTURE. 

have  all  under  their  yoke ;  they  saw  with  pain  that 
within  as  well  as  without  the  province,  there  re 
mained  some  individuals  devoted  to  the  party  of 
Congress.  Their  resentment  dictated  the  most  ex 
traordinary  measures  against  the  property  and 
families  of  those  who  had  emigrated,  and  of  those 
who  had  remained  prisoners  of  war.  The  posses 
sions  of  the  first  were  sequestrated  and  ravaged  ; 
their  families  were  jealously  watched,  and  subjected, 
as  rebels,  to  a  thousand  vexations.  The  second 
were  often  separated  from  their  hearths,  and  con 
fined  in  remote  and  unhealthy  places.  These  rigors 
constrained  some  to  retract,  and  bend  the  neck 
under  the  new  slavery  ;  others  to  offer  themselves 
as  good  and  loyal  subjects  of  the  king.  Among 
them  were  found  individuals  who  had  manifested 
the  most  ardor  for  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  who 
had  even  filled  the  first  offices  under  the  popular 
government.  They  generally  colored  their  conver 
sion  with  saying  that  they  abhorred  the  alliance  of 
France.  Tims  men  will  rather  stain  themselves 
with  falsehood  and  perjury,  than  live  in  misfortune 

and  poverty ! Hence  arose  a  distinction 

between  subjects  and  prisoners.  The  first  were 
protected,  honored  and  encouraged;  the  second 
were  regarded  with  contempt,  persecuted  and  ha 
rassed  in  their  persons  and  property.  Their  estates 
in  the  country  were  loaded  with  taxes,  and  even 
ravaged.  Within  the  city  they  were  refused  access 


THE    FUTURE.  209 

to  the  tribunals,  if  they  had  occasion  to  bring  suits 
against  their  debtors  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  were  abandoned  to  all  the  prosecutions  of  their 
creditors.  Thus  forced  to  pay,  they  were  not  per 
mitted  to  receive.  They  were  not  suffered  to  go  out 
of  the  city  without  a  pass,  which  was  often  refused 
them  without  motive,  and  they  were  even  threat 
ened  with  imprisonment  unless  they  took  the  oath 
of  allegiance.  Their  effects  were  given  up  to  the  pil 
lage  of  the  soldiery  ;  their  negroes  were  taken  from 
them  ;  they  had  no  means  of  redress,  but  in  yield 
ing  to  what  was  exacted  of  them  ;  while  the  claims 

of  subjects  were  admitted  without  question 

In  brief,  threats,  fraud  and  force  were  industriously 
exercised  to  urge  the  inhabitants  to  violate  their 
plighted  faith,  and  resume  their  ancient  chains. 
The  greater  part  had  recourse  to  dissimulation,  and, 
by  becoming  subjects,  were  made  partakers  of  British 
protection ;  others,  more  firm,  or  more  virtuous, 
refused  to  bend.  But  they  soon  saw  an  unbridled 
soldiery  sharing  out  their  spoils ;  some  were  thrown 
into  pestilential  dungeons  ;  others,  less  unfortunate 
or  more  prudent,  condemned  themselves  to  a  volun 
tary  exile."—/*?.,  pp.  259,  2GO. 


210  THE    FUTURE. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Facility  of  putting  the  President's  Plan  into  Execution  iu  the 
early  Stages  of  the  Experiment — The  Difficulties  will  thicken  as 
the  Problem  approaches  Solution — Feelings  with  which  the  un- 
corrupted  Part  of  the  Southern  People  will  regard  the  Tender  of 
the  Oath — Nature  of  the  Undertaking  which  it  requires  from  the 
Pardoned  Rebel — Character  of  the  first  Officials  under  the  new 
State  Governments — Feelings  of  Animosity  which  will  exist 
between  them  and  a  large  Portion  of  the  Conquered  People — 
The  Necessities  of  the  National  Government  will  require  that 
such  Men  shall  be  kept  in  Power — The  Aid  of  the  Military  will  be 
invoked  for  that  Purpose — Impossibility  of  effecting  the  Pacifica 
tion  of  the  Country  under  such  Circumstances — Worthlessness  of 
Forced  Oaths  of  Allegiance — The  inevitable  Tendency  of  Military 
Rule  over  a  Conquered  People  is  to  Severity — The  Evil  is  thus 
increased  by  the  Means  employed  to  remove  it— These  Propo 
sitions  illustrated — Results  of  the  British  Efforts  to  reestablish 
the  King's  Authority  in  South  Carolina  in  1780-1781 — How 
Military  Force  agrees  with  a  Popular  Form  of  Government  in 
Maryland  and  Delaware — The  Military  Establishment  which  the 
Policy  of  Subjugation  will  require  us  to  maintain — Expense  of 
such  an  Army — Questions  as  to  our  Ability  to  defray  the 
Expense  or  to  keep  the  Ranks  filled — Other  Questions  relating  to 
the  Subject. 

HUMAN  nature  being  the  same  now  as  at  the 
time  of  the  Revolution,  we  may  reasonably  conelude, 
not  only  from  our  experience  of  its  operations,  but 
from  the  practical  illustrations  that  have  been  fur- 


THE    FUTURE.  21 1 

nished,  that  the  President's  plan  is  capable  of 
being  put  into  execution  with  a  degree  of  success, 
in  its  earliest  stages,  which  will  encourage  its 
adherents  to  expect  its  ultimate  acceptance  as  a 
permanent  system  of  government  by  the  bulk  of  the 
southern  people.  The  same  result  would  however 
attend  an  attempt  to  carry  out  any  similar  scheme, 
which  might  meet  with  the  approbation  of  the 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army.  For  as  long  as 
war  is  actually  raging,  and  the  civil  Government, 
whatever  may  be  its  form,  must  be  upheld  by  the 
sword,  it  matters  little  what  conditions  of  its  exer 
cise  may  be  prescribed  by  him  in  whose  hands  the 
sword  is  placed.  He  is  to  all  practical  intents  a 
despot ;  and  the  civil  as  well  as  the  military  rulers, 
whom  he  may  set  up  over  the  country  which  his 
armies  occupy,  however  distasteful  they  may  be  to 
the  people,  will  receive  prompt  and  implicit  obedi 
ence.  If  it  suits  his  fancy  that  a  portion  of  the 
people  should  manifest  their  adherence  to  his 
government  by  some  outward  act  of  submission, 
he  possesses  the  ability  to  gratify  his  wish,  pro 
vided  he  shall  take  care  so  to  limit  the  requisite 
number,  that  it  will  not  exceed  that  proportion  of 
the  population  who  are  accessible  to  the  influences 
of  fear  or  corruption.  And  if  he  shall  also  hold  or 
assume  the  power  to  manufacture  new  citizens  out 
of  an  immense  horde  of  his  own  fellow-countrymen, 
who  have  been  attracted  to  the  conquered  country 


212  THE    FUTURE. 

by  the  almost  illimitable  opportunities  of  gain  which 
it  offers  to  them,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  he  may 
readily  establish  a  system  which  will  present  the 
outward  appearance  of  commanding  a  considerable 
degree  of  popular  support. 

But  although  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  Pre 
sident's  plan  may  be  inaugurated  in  a  few  of  the 
conquered  States,  under  apparently  flattering  aus 
pices,  it  is  evident  that  the  difficulties  of  establish 
ing  it  as  a  general  system  throughout  the  South, 
arid  of  maintaining  it  in  the  regions  where  it  shall 
be  established,  will  increase  as  the  problem  ap 
proaches  its  final  solution.  For  if  the  present  rate 
of  progress  of  our  arms  should  be  maintained,  the 
time  must  ultimately  come  when  it  will  no  longer 
be  possible  for  us,  as  we  are  now  doing,  to  drive  the 
physical  and  intellectual  flower  of  the  people  before 
us.  When  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy  shall  be 
completely  overthrown,  those  who  have  now  fled 
from  the  approach  of  our  armies,  must  return  to 
their  homes  and  mingle  again  with  the  rest  of  the 
population.  This  must  take  place  in  all  the  States — 
the  semi  loyal  as  well  as  the  ultra-secessionist — in 
Tennessee  as  well  as  in  South  Carolina.  Let  us 
therefore  inquire  in  what  manner  the  tender  of  the 
oath  and  submission  to  the  new  constitution,  will 
be  really  regarded  by  that  part  of  the  southern 
people,  from  whom  alone  we  can  construct  a  stable 
popular  Government.  I  mean  the  men  who  pos- 


THE    FUTURE. 


sess  to  an  average  degree  the  noble  as  well  as  the 
sordid  traits  of  our  common  nature. 

And  first,  I  will  consider  a  circumstance  which 
will  be  operative  only  while  the  war  is  still  raging, 
which  is  therefore  principally  important,  at  present, 
for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  number  and  char 
acter  of  the  people  now  within  our  lines,  who  will  vol 
untarily  take  the  oath  with  an  intention  to  observe 
it  ;  and  also  of  those  who  are  yet  within  the  Con 
federate  lines,  as  soldiers  or  as  civilians,  and  who 
will  be  tempted  by  the  preferred  amnesty  to  seek 
our  military  stations,  with  a  view  of  availing  them 
selves  of  its  benefits.  I  refer  to  the  fact  that  a 
large  number  of  the  insurgents  are  expressly  ex- 
cepted  from  the  provisions  of  the  proclamation. 

On  perusing  the  list  of  the  proscribed,  it  will  at 
once  be  seen  that  no  person  who  has  voluntarily 
participated  in  the  rebellion,  can  procure  his  par 
don  without  committing  an  act  of  such  unequivocal 
baseness,  that  every  praiseworthy  instinct  of  the 
human  soul  will  recoil  from  it.  For  he  is  required 
to  abandon  to  the  vengeance  of  a  hated  and  hating 
enemy  —  not  merely  the  political  "  chiefs  of  the 
rebellion,"  against  whom  the  advocates  of  the  pre 
sidential  scheme  suppose  the  mass  of  the  people  to 
have  become  incensed  —  but  a  large  number  of  men 
whose  only  crime  was  an  erroneous  political  creed, 
or  an  inability  to  resist  the  strongest  emotions  which 
influence  mankind  —  men,  many  of  whom  battled 


214  THE    FUTURE. 

for  the  Union  during  the  political  conflict  which 
preceded  the  act  of  secession,  and  whose  motives  in 
taking  up  arms  were  as  pure  and  as  praiseworthy 
as  those  which  have  actuated  the  most  virtuous  of 
our  own  citizens.  All  the  leading  civilians  of  the 
South,  irrespective  of  their  comparative  complicity 
in  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  are  to  be  left  to 
the  clemency  of  a  government,  of  whose  embittered 
feelings  against  their  adversaries,  the  character  of 
the  warfare  which  has  been  waged,  and  the  civil 
rule  of  many  of  our  military  proconsuls,  afford  to 
the  southern  people  the  most  conclusive  evidence. 
Whatever  we  may  think  of  those  men,  they  are  the 
most  honored  and  trusted  of  the  citizens  of  the 
South,  and  are  regarded  by  their  fellow-countrymen 
with  the  respect  and  affection  which  patriotism, 
however  mistaken,  preeminent  ability,  undoubted 
integrity,  and  great  sacrifices  in  a  common  cause, 
always  command  even  from  indifferent  lookers-on. 
And  as  if  this  was  not  enough,  the  same  doom  is  to 
await  the  gallant  generals  who  have  challenged 
even  our  own  admiration — the  men  whose  names 
are  identified  as  household  words,  in  the  mind  of 
every  southerner,  with  the  most  glorious  reminis 
cences  of  southern  valor  and  southern  heroism. 
The  case  is,  in  that  respect,  precisely  the  same  as 
if  we  were  -asked  to  purchase  an  ignominious  peace 
by  the  surrender  to  the  gibbet  of  McClellan,  Grant, 
Rosecrans,  Meade — all  the  long  catalogue  of  heroes 


THE    FUTURE.  215 

who  have  inscribed  their  names  in  imperishable 
letters  upon  the  most  brilliant  pages  of  our  history. 

We  have  therefore  every  reason  to  expect  that, 
as  long  as  resistance  shall  be  possible,  all  those 
southerners  who  possess  in  any  considerable  degree 
the  instincts  of  honorable  manhood,  will  spurn  an 
offer  of  reconciliation  upon  such  degrading  terms. 
But  a  shameful  abandonment  of  the  purest  and 
bravest  of  his  fellow-citizens  is  only  the  first  step 
of  the  journey  through  the  valley  of  humiliation 
which  the  repentant  rebel  must  tread.  The  suc 
ceeding  stages  will  be  equally  offensive  to  his 
prejudices  and  his  pride,  even  if  the  amnesty  should 
be  extended,  so  as  to  include  all  those  whose  antici 
pated  fate  might  awaken  his  sympathy,  and  induce 
him  to  repel  with  scorn  the  proposition  to  purchase 
his  safety  by  his  infamy. 

For  the  terms  of  the  prescribed  oath  could  scarce 
ly  have  been  made  more  galling,  i-f  they  had  been 
framed  for  the  express  purpose  of  outraging  the  feel 
ings  of  social  order  and  constitutional  law,  which 
have  been  so  instilled  into  the  southerner  from  his 
childhood,  that  they  have  become,  as  it  were,  a 
part  of  his  very  nature.  He  must  not  only  assume 
a  title  which  he  has  always  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  reproachful  epithets  which  could  be  applied 
to  a  human  being,  but  in  so  doing  he  must  pledge 
himself  to  accomplish  the  objects  which  it  implies 
by  a  crime.  He  must  swear  to  become  riot  merely 


216  TnE    FUTURE. 

an  abolitionist,  but  a  revolutionary  abolitionist. 
Nay  more,  lie  must  swear  in  advance  that  he  will 
abide  by  any  abolition  scheme  that  may  hereafter 
be  devised  by  the  masters,  to  whom  he  must  sur 
render  the  keeping  of  his  conscience.  Nor  does  the 
obligation  of  the  oath  stop  even  here.  He  must 
swear  not  only  to  "  abide  by  "  but  "faithfully  sup 
port  "  all  past  and  all  future  measures  which  the 
President  or  Congress  may  adopt  to  accomplish 
abolition.  That  is  to  say,  he  must  consent  to  be 
come  an  abolition  propagandist — he  must  agree  to 
aid  in  forcibly  depriving  the  unpardoned  rebels  of 
other  States  as  well  as  his  own,  of  the  right  of  self- 
government  which  he  has  himself  surrendered. 
And  as  if  all  this  was  not  sufficiently  degrading, 
his  own  pardon  is  made  conditional  that  he  shall 
"  thenceforward  keep  and  faithfully  maintain  said 
oath  inviolate ;"  so  that  he  must  continually  crouch 
under  the  impending  sword,  which  his  failure  to 
keep  the  oath  at  any  time  will  let  fall  upon  him. 

The  proposed  terms  of  reunion  are  therefore  such 
as  none  will  voluntarily  accept  save  the  ignorant, 
the  mean-spirited,  and  the  venal.  The  occupants 
of  official  station  among  the  rebels  not  only  are  not 
invited  but  are  repelled  ;  the  generous  will  find 
themselves  precluded  from  a  pardon  by  the  circum 
stances  of  dishonor  and  degradation  which  will 
accompany  its  acceptance  ;  the  wealthy  will  not 
voluntarily  submit  to  a  government  which  proposes 


THE    FUTURE.  217 

to  requite  their  submission  by  forcibly  stripping 
tli em  of  the  most  valuable  part  of  their  property. 
All  these  classes  will  hold  out  as  long  as  their  aid 
can  support  the  tottering  cause  of  the  Confederacy. 
Meanwhile,  a  new  class  of  political  leaders  will  spring 
up  among  the  "  loyal "  population  of  the  South — - 
composed  partly  of  the  soldiers  of  fortune  whom  I 
have  already  described,  and  partly  of  a  class  of 
venal  wretches,  lately  the  loudest  in  their  cham 
pionship  of  the  rights  and  blessings  of  slavery,  and 
the  most  bitter  and  uncompromising  revilers  of  the 
"  Yankees,"  to  whom  the  power  and  profits  to  be 
derived  from  adherence  to  the  new  order  of  things, 
will  prove  irresistible  attractions.  These  men,  like 
their  prototyes  whom  Botta  describes,  will  of  course 
fall  in  with  the  theories  so  prevalent  among  a  certain 
class  of  politicians  at  the  North,  that  they  were 
misled  or  coerced  into  rebellion.  Like  all  other 
apostates,  they  will  seek  to  prove  the  sincerity  of 
their  conversion  by  the  intemperance  of  their  denun 
ciation  of  the  principles  which  they  have  abandoned, 
and  by  the  persecution  of  those  whose  manly  en 
durance  of  the  frowns  of  fortune,  will  shame  their 
own  tergiversation  and  venality.  "We  may  confi 
dently  look  to  see  the  ancient  Herods  of  abolition 
ism  outheroded  by  this  new  generation  which  will 
spring  up  at  the  South.  We  have  indeed  already 
seen  the  first  fruits  of  the  "  new  reckoning." 

This  class,  and  the  northern  immigrants  who  will 


218  THE    FUTURE. 

hasten  to  declare  themselves  citizens  of  the  "  recon 
structed  "  States,  will,  from  the  absence  of  all  other 
prominent  men,  as  well  as  from  other  obvious 
causes,  furnish  the  political  leaders  of  the  new 
State  organizations.  And  when  the  fortune  of  war 

O 

shall  compel  the  rest  of  the  southern  people  to 
submit  to  the  power  of  the  nation,  they  will  find 
themselves  obliged  to  live  under  State  govern 
ments  founded  in  usurpation,  and  controlled  by 
such  men  as  these.  To  reconcile  a  high-spirited 
people  to  such  a  fate — to  induce  the  reputable,  in 
telligent,  educated  and  gifted  among  them  to  par 
ticipate  in  the  administration  of  such  a  government, 
would  require  years  of  labor  on  the  part  of  the 
wisest  and  most  moderate  statesmen.  But  there  is 
not  the  slightest  probability  that  those  who  have 
heretofore  pursued  a  policy,  which  relied  for  its  suc 
cess  upon  fear  and  compulsion  only,  will  adopt  the 
measures  which  will  be  requisite  to  soothe  the  feel 
ings  of  an  exasperated  and  humiliated  people. 
Even  were  they  so  disposed,  it  is  impossible  to 
point  out  the  means  whereby  they  can  carry  out 
their  good  intentions.  To  do  so,  they  must  com 
meiice  by  discarding,  or  allowing  the  people  to  dis 
card,  the  men  who  will  be  found  in  power  under 
the  new  State  governments  when  the  conquest  of 
the  country  shall  be  completed.  These  men,  how 
ever,  will  be  the  true  and  original  "  loyalists  "- 
they  will  have  claims  upon  the  party  in  powsi 


THE    FUTURE.  219 

which  cannot  be  ignored — and  unless  they  belie  the 
nature  and  history  of  their  kind  throughout  the 
world,  they  will  have  aroused  such  feelings  among 
the  people,  that  the  protection  of  the  Federal  au 
thorities  will  be  essential  not  merely  to  their  con 
tinuance  in  power,  but  to  their  personal  safety.  If 
however  an  enlarged  patriotism  and  sense  of  justice 
should  so  far  prevail  with  the  Federal  authorities, 
as  to  make  them  willing  fairly  to  commit  to  the 
people  the  reins  of  government,  a  more  appalling 
embarrassment  will  at  once  present  itself.  I  allude 
to  the  impossibility  of  preserving  public  order 
unless  the  State  and  the  national  governments  shall 
act  in  harmony  with  each  other,  and  to  the  neces 
sity  which  consequently  exists  that  the  popular  ele 
ment  which  controls  the  elections  in  a  State,  shall 
be  sincerely  attached  to  the  Union.  In  the  eighth 
chapter  of  this  work,  I  have  illustrated  the  work 
ing — or  rather  the  failure — of  any  attempt  to  carry 
on  such  a  State  government  as  our  Constitution 
provides  for,  unless  the  people  shall  heartily  co 
operate  in  the  endeavor.  The  very  case  which  I 
have  supposed,  will  be  presented  in  every  southern 
State  in  which  the  President's  policy  of  "  recon 
struction"  shall  be  put  into  operation,  whenever 
the  people  shall  be  left  free  to  control  the  result  of 
the  elections. 

The  result  will  add  another  to  the  many  proofs 
which  the  history  of  the  world  furnishes,  that — 


220  THE    FUTURE. 

"  A  sceptre,  snatched  with  au  unruly  hand, 
Must  be  as  boisterously  maintained  as  gain'd." 

The  necessities  of  the  national  Government  will 
require  repressive  means  to  be  employed,  in  order 
to  prevent  "  loyal  "  incumbents  of  office  from  being 
superseded  by  those  who  may  be,  and  probably 
iusily,  suspected  of  an  intention  to  use  their  official 
positions  to  foment  another  rebellion,  or  at  all 
events  to  embarrass  the  Federal  Administration  in 
the  performance  of  its  functions  within  the  State. 
The  officers  of  the  State  government  will  thus 
necessarily  become  the  mere  creatures  of  the  mili 
tary  power — they  will  be,  in  substance,  civilians 
administering  a  military  government — and  the  com 
monalty  will  continue  to  be  a  subjugated  people, 
enjoying  only  the  form  of  liberty  without  its  sub 
stance. 

This  state  of  tilings  must  continue  for  an  indefinite 
period  ;  for  every  day  of  its  duration  will  only  make 
more  apparent  the  impossibility  of  abandoning  it. 
Those  wTho  fancy  that  the  southern  people  will  be 
induced,  through  fear  of  consequences  or  from 
regard  to  their  personal  interests,  to  become  at  first 
the  peaceable,  and  in  time  the  willing  subjects  of  a 
government  owing  its  origin  to  usurpation,  and  sus 
tained  in  its  earlier  stages  by  military  power,  found 
their  hopes  upon  their  wishes,  rather  than  the  les 
sons  of  experience.  There  is  no  part  of  a  states 
man's  art  which  demands  such  consummate  tact 


THE    FUTURE.  221 

and  ability  as  to  close  a  breach  between  gov 
ernors  and  governed — it  is  in  the  nature  of  such 
a  breach  to  widen  from  day  to  day,  even  when  it 
occurs  between  a  people  and  their  legitimate  ruler — 
but  when  the  latter  is  a  usurper  and  a  conqueror, 
the  task  becomes  hopeless  till  time  shall  have  sup 
plied  him  with  a  new  patent  of  sovereignty. 

History  affords  no  instance  to  my  knowledge, 
where  any  people  have  immediately  become  willing 
and  loyal  subjects  to  a  government  imposed  upon 
them  by  conquest,  and  sustaining  itself  by  military 
force.  It  will  perhaps  be  said,  in  answer  to  this 
suggestion,  that  a  conquered  people  wrere  never 
before  required  to  submit  to  so  mild  a  government 
as  that  under  which  the  southerners  will  live.  But 
the  intensity  of  the  feelings  of  animosity  which  will 
exist  between  the  rulers  and  a  large  number  of  the 
governed,  and  the  probable  character  of  the  former, 
forbid  us  to  entertain  the  expectation  that  the  new 
governments  will  pursue  a  career  of  mildness  towards 
the  political  and  social  enemies  of  those  by  whom 
they  are  administered.  The  essence  of  military  rule 
is  despotism,  and  it  knows  but  one  way  to  escape  from 
the  difficulties  and  embarrassments  of  administra 
tion  ;  that  is  to  remove  all  obstacles  by  force,  and  to 
compel  obedience  by  terror.  And  after  a  career  of 
repression  has  once  been  entered  upon,  it  cannot  be 
abandoned — the  policy  of  the  Government  becomes 
fixed,  and  a  change  impossible.  This  is  the  history 


222  THE    FUTURE. 

of  all  military  governments.  Yery  few  conquerors 
have  adopted  a  policy  of  severity  towards  the  con 
quered  as  a  matter  of  choice,  but  only  as  a  matter 
of  necessity,  and  because  it  has  been  found  impos 
sible  to  govern  a  conquered  people  without  severity. 
However  much  we  may  theorize  about  a  Southern 
Utopia,  in  which  a  ruined  and  vanquished  people, 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  a  hated  enemy,  with  the 
bayonets  of  his  infantry  at  their  throats,  and  the 
hoofs  of  his  cavalry  upon  their  bosoms,  are  to  be 
coaxed  into  love  of  the  conqueror,  or  frightened 
into  willing  submission  to  and  participation  in  the 
usurping  government  which  he  has  established  over 
them,  the  result  will  prove  that  human  nature  in 
this  country  is  the  same  as  in  every  other  part  of 
the  world,  and  that  the  same  causes  will  produce 
the  same  effects  in  this,  as  in  every  other  case  of 
conquest  and  subjugation. 

The  extracts  from  Botta's  history,  with  which  the 
preceding  chapter  concluded,  described  some  of  the 
results  of  the  attempt  to  reestablish  by  force  British 
rule  in  the  Carolinas.  They  demonstrate  the  cor 
rectness  of  my  assumption,  that  a  government  es 
tablished  in  sucli  a  manner  over  a  high-spirited 
people,  will  pursue  a  career  of  repressive  severity 
as  a  necessary  law  of  its  being.  The  impossibility 
of  checking  such  a  career,  when  it  has  been  once 
entered  upon,  and  the  feebleness  of  the  tie  between 
governors  and  people,  created  by  a  compulsory  oath 


THE    FUTURE.  223 

of  allegiance,  will  become  apparent  by  pursuing  the 
same  subject  a  little  further.  The  English  au 
thorities  soon  discovered  that  the  apparent  loyalty 
of  the  people  was  but  a  mask  assumed  for  tempo 
rary  purposes.  Disturbances  of  all  kinds  speedily 
arose — Sumpter,  Marion,  and  their  associate  com 
manders  raised  the  standard  of  revolt,  and  numbers 
of  the  inhabitants  hastened  to  join  them.  "They 
had  no  pay,  no  uniforms,  nor  even  any  certain 
means  of  subsistence  ;  they  lived  upon  what  chance 
or  their  own  courage  provided  them.  They  ex 
perienced  even  want  of  arms  and  munitions  of  war; 
but  they  made  themselves  rude  weapons  from  the 
implements  of  husbandry  ;  instead  of  balls  of  lead, 
they  cast  them  of  pewter,  with  the  dishes  which  the 

patriots  gave  them  for  that  purpose They 

were  seen  several  times  to  encounter  the  enemy 
with  only  three  charges  of  ammunition  to  a  man. 
While  the  combat  was  engaged,  some  of  those  who 
were  destitute  of  arms  or  ammunition,  kept  them 
selves  aside,  waiting  till  the  death  or  wounds  of  their 
companions  should  permit  them  to  take  their  place." 
Soon  Gates  arrived  with  his  army ;  and  he  imme 
diately  issued  a  proclamation,  inviting  the  people 
to  rise,  and  promising  forgiveness  to  all  those  who 
had  taken  the  oath  to  the  king,  except  such  indi 
viduals  as  had  exercised  acts  of  barbarity  or  depre 
dation  against  the  persons  or  property  of  their 
fellow-citizens.  The  result  showed  how  futile  it  was 


224  TUE  FUTURE. 

to  expect  to  bind  a  people  to  the  support  of  an 
unpopular  government  by  oaths  extorted  from  their 
fears.  "  ^ot  only  the  people  ran  to  arms  in  multi 
tudes  to  support  the  cause  of  Congress,  but  even  the 
companies  levied  in  the  province  for  the  service  of 
the  king  either  revolted  or  deserted."  Lord  Raw- 
clon  had  sent  to  Georgetown  a  convoy  of  sick 
soldiers  under  escort  of  a  regiment  of  Carolinians. 
"  About  the  middle  of  the  route,  these  militia 
mutinied,  and  having  seized  their  officers,  conducted 
them  with  the  sick  English  to  the  camp  of  General 
Gates.  Colonel  Lisle,  one  of  those  who  had  taken 
oath  to  the  king,  gained  over  a  battalion  of  militia 
that  had  been  levied  in  the  name  of  Cornwallis,  and 
led  it  entire  to  Colonel  Sumpter." — Botta,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  286-288. 

The  battle  of  Carnden  followed.  It  terminated 
in  a  disastrous  defeat  of  the  Americans,  but  the 
weather  prevented  Cornwallis  from  effectually  pur 
suing  his  advantage.  lie  availed  himself  of  the 
breathing  spell  which  it  secured  him  to  undertake 
new  efforts  for  consolidating  the  royal  authority. 
.  .  "Unable  to  operate  in  the  field,  Cornwallis 
turned  his  attention  towards  the  internal  adminis 
tration,  in  order  to  consolidate  the  acquisition  of 
South  Carolina.  Resolved  to  have  recourse  to  ex 
treme  remedies  for  terminating  the  crisis  in  which 
that  province  found  itself,  he  purposed  to  spread 
terror  among  the  republicans  by  the  rigor  of  pun- 


THE    FUTURE.  225 

ishment,  and  deprive  them  of  the  means  to  do  harm, 
by  depriving  them  of  the  means  to  subsist.  Accord 
ingly,  he  addressed  orders  to  all  the  British  com 
manders,  that  without  any  delay  they  should  cause 
to  be  hung  all  those  individuals,  who,  after  having 
served  in  the  militia  levied  by  the  king,  had  gone 
over  to  the  rebels ;  that  they  should  punish  with 
imprisonment  and  confiscation  those  who,  having 
submitted  at  first,  had  taken  part  in  the  last  rebel 
lion,  to  the  end  that  their  effects  might  be  applied 
to  indemnify  those  subjects  whom  they  should  have 
oppressed  or  despoiled All  minds  were  pene 
trated  with  horror  ;  all  hearts  were  inflamed  with 
an  implacable  and  never-dying  hatred  against  such 
ferocious  victors.  A  cry  of  vengeance  resounded 
amidst  this  exasperated  people.  All  detested  a  king 
who  had  devoted  them  to  the  oppression  of  these 
brutal  executors  of  his  will.  His  standard  became 
an  object  of  execration.  The  British  generals 
learned  by  cruel  experience,  that  executions  and 
despair  are  frail  securities  for  the  submission  of  a 
people  planted  in  distant  regions,  actuated  by  a 
common  opinion,  and  embarked  with  passion  in  a 
generous  enterprise.  ]S"or  were  these  the  only  rigors 
which  Cornwallis  thought  it  expedient  to  exercise, 
in  order  to  confirm  the  possession  of  the  provinces 
conquered  by  his  arms.  To  complete  the  reduction 
of  the  patriots,  he  employed  arrests  and  sequestra 
tions These  different  measures,  combined 

10* 


226  THE    FUTURE. 

with  a  vigorous  watchfulness  over  the  movements 

O 

of  the  suspected,  appeared  to  the  English  a  sure 
guaranty  for  the  return  of  tranquillity  and  obedi 
ence  in  the  province  of  South  Carolina." — Id.*  pp. 
295,  296. 

But  the  remedies  only  aggravated  the  evils  which 
they  were  designed  to  cure.  The  severities  of  the 
British  generals  produced  no  other  result  than  to 
inflame  the  people  with  a  still  deeper  detestation  of 
the  royal  government  and  of  its  adherents.  Their 
anger  was  specially  directed  against  those  of  their 
own  fellow-citizens  who  remained  faithful  to  the 
crown.  "  They  observed  the  laws  of  war  against 
the  English,  but  they  displayed  an  excessive  rigor 
against  the  loyalists.  They  hung  several  without 
listening  to  their  remonstrances."  The  battles  of 
Cowpens,  Guilford  and  En  taw  followed,  and  the 
English  were  compelled  to  retire  within  their  in- 
trenchments  at  Charleston  and  Savannah,  which 
two  cities,  with  a  slendter  portion  of  territory  in 
their  immediate  vicinity,  alone  continued  to  ac 
knowledge  the  royal  authority.* 

*  The  case  of  Colonel  Hayne  affords  another  instance  of 
how  little  obligation  even  men  occupying  the  highest  social 
position,  arid  distinguished  for  the  noblest  traits  of  charac 
ter,  attach  to  an  oath  of  allegiance  extorted  from  them  by 
threats  of  violence  and  plunder.  After  the  surrender  of 
Charleston,  Hayne,  who  was  in  every  respect  one  of  the 
most  honored  and  influential  citizens  of  South  Carolina, 
w&s  prevented  by  the  dangerous  illness  of  his  wife  and 


TEE    FUTURE.  22 T 

Should  the  Southern  Confederacy  be  completely 
overwhelmed,  the  resolution  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  States  which  we  shall  have  subjugated,  may  not 
alone  be  able  to  accomplish  such  decisive  results. 
But  the  parallel  will  hold  good  in  all  other  respects. 
Notwithstanding  that  we  may  compel  an  outward 
submission  to  our  rule  and  to  the  usurped  State 
governments  which  we  may  establish,  it  will  be 
impossible  to  subdue  the  spirit  of  such  a  brave, 
proud,  and  passionate  people,  as  those  who  have  so 
effectually  made  a  stand  for  nearly  three  years 
against  our  immensely  superior  power.  Those  who 
will  take  the  oath,  will  do  so  only  through  fear  of 
the  immediate  consequences  of  their  refusal,  with 
hatred  in  their  hearts,  and  with  a  settled  purpose 

children  from  fleeing  the  country.  He  surrendered  himself 
as  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  sought  leave  to  return  to  his 
home  on  parole.  But  the  British  officers  would  allow  him 
no  alternative,  except  to  acknowledge  himself  a  British 
subject,  or  to  undergo  a  rigorous  captivity,  with  the  cer 
tainty  that  the  soldiery  would  sack  and  devastate  his  plan 
tations.  He  consented  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and 
received  permission  to  return  to  his  residence.  Being 
ordered  (contrary  to  the  promise  which  the  British  com 
mander  had  given  when  his  submission  was  accepted)  to 
take  up  arms  for  the  king,  instead  of  complying,  he  raised 
a  force  for  Congress.  He  was  taken  prisoner  by  the 
British  and  executed  at  Charleston.  The  usual  result  fol 
lowed.  Universal  sympathy  for  his  fate  pervaded  the  whole 
country,  and  "  the  aversion  of  the  Americans  for  their  bar 
barous  foes  acquired  a  new  character  of  implacable  ani 
mosity." — Botta,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  377-379. 


228  THE    FUTURE. 

of  seizing  the  earliest  opportunity  to  throw  off  a 
detested  yoke;  and  a  large  number,  exasperated  by 
the  losses  and  sufferings  which  the  war  has  brought 
upon  them,  by  the  humiliation  of  defeat,  bjT  the  bit 
terness  of  conquest,  by  the  political  degradation  to 
which  the  exclusion  acts  condemn  them,  and  by  the 
execution  or  exile  of  their  leaders,  will  prefer  to 
endure  every  extremity,  rather  than  submit  to  the 
degrading  terms,  upon  which  alone  they  can  pur 
chase  the  privilege  to  drag  out  a  dishonored  ex 
istence.  If  these  men  shall  be  left  unmolested,  they 
will  constitute  a  dangerous  class,  whose  presence 
will  be  a  source  of  perpetual  and  well-foimdcd 
apprehension  to  the  Government.  If,  as  is  most 
probable,  an  attempt  shall  be  made  to  compel  them 
to  take  the  oath  by  enforcing  the  penal  and  confis 
cation  laws  against  them,  they  will  imitate  their 
ancestors,  and  betake  themselves  to  the  swamps  and 
forests,  whence  they  will  wage  an  unrelenting  war  of 
extermination  upon  the  conqueror,  and  those  of  their 
own  fellow-countrymen  who  may  have  made  them 
selves  obnoxious  by  their  zeal  in  his  service. 

Bat  we  need  not  resort  to  the  records  of  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  or  to  the  experience  of  other 
countries,  or  to  abstract  speculations  upon  the  ope 
rations  of  human  nature,  to  learn  what  will  be  the 
effect  of  an  attempt  to  carry  on  a  popular  form  of 
government  under  the  auspices  of  military  power. 
We  have  at  the  present  time  and  in  our  own  country 


THE    FUTURE.  229 

abundant  instances  of  the  working  of  such  a  system. 
WQ  need  not  even  inquire  how  such  a  government 
is  now  carried  on  in  the  conquered  State  of  Louisi 
ana.  We  have  but  to  look  to  Maryland,  a  State  in 
which  no  ordinance  of  secession  was  ever  passed, 
which  has  never  been  humiliated  by  conquest,  in 
which  the  existing  loyal  State  government  com 
mands,  I  hope,  a  larger  popular  support  that  one 
of  the  President's  governments  could  possibly  com 
mand  in  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  or  South 
Carolina.  My  readers  are  familiar  with  the  compul 
sory  prayers  for  the  President,  the  displays  of  flags 
by  military  orders,  the  domiciliary  visits,  the  seiz 
ures  of  songs,  photographs  and  music,  the  constant 
succession  of  arrests,  trials  and  punishments  of  citi 
zens  by  court-martial,  sometimes  for  words  spoken 
or  written,  sometimes  for  gestures,  sometimes  for 
silence,  and  the  thousand  nameless  other  familiar 
incidents  of  military  rule,  all  of  them  intolerably 
galling  to  a  people  born  to  freedom,  which  increase 
disaffection,  harden  the  disaffected,  and  from  the 
force  of  mere  sympathy,  weaken  the  loyalty  of  the 
well-affected.*  This  is  not  the  place  to  criticise  the 

*  "  Ex  uno  disce  omnes."  The  following  newspaper 
extract  is  a  recent  instance  of  the  working  of  the  system. 
The  language  in  which  the  writer  relates  the  incident  would 
alone  suffice  to  prove  his  "  loyalty  " — in  fact,  the  extract 
is  part  of  the  Baltimore  correspondence  of  the  New  York 
Evening  Post  : 

"  A  knot  of  cowardly  traitors  were  arrested  the  other 


230  THE    FUTURE. 

necessity  of  such  acts  when  they  have  occurred.  I 
refer  to  them  to  show  that  they  are  the  unavoidable 
concomitants  of  such  governments  as  it  is  proposed 
to  establish  throughout  the  South. 

In  Maryland  and  Delaware  it  has  been  supposed 
that  inferior  numbers,  the  overwhelming  prepon 
derance  of  the  military  power,  and  the  geographical 
situation  of  the  States,  have  overawed  the  disaf 
fected,  and  either  banished  them  or  reduced  them 
to  sullen  submission.  But  the  events  of  November, 
1863,  demonstrate  either  that  the  spirit  of  disaffec 
tion  is  yet  so  rife  even  in  those  States,  that  the  pub- 
night  in  the  act  of  drinking  the  following  infamous  toast  : 
'  Damn  the  goose  that  grew  the  quill  that  made  the  pen 
that  wrote  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  I'  They 
were  about  to  start  on  their  travels  to  Jeff.  Davis's  domini 
ons  for  this  offence,  when  their  wives  and  children  appeared 
on  the  scene.  Provost-Marshal  Fish,  moved  by  their 
entreaties,  released  the  offenders  on  their  taking  the  oath 
of  allegiance." 

There  is  an  English  precedent  for  this  kind  of  treason, 
but  it  is  as  old  as  the  reign  of  King  Edward  the  fourth. 
A  gentleman,  whose  favorite  buck  the  king  had  killed  in 
hunting,  said  that  he  wished  that  the  animal  was,  "  horns  and 
all,  in  the  belly  of  him  who  counselled  the  king  to  kill  it ; 
and  as  the  king  killed  it  of  his  own  accord,  or  was  his  own 
counsellor,  it  was  held  to  be  a  treasonable  wish  against  the 
king  himself."  Even  in  those  days,  however,  there  were 
some  who  thought  his  "  a  hard  case,"  and  the  chief-justice 
(M.irkhani)  chose  rather  to  resign  his  office,  tiian  assent  to 
the  judgment.— C kitty's  Bladstone,  Book  iv.,  p.  80,  and 
note. 


THE    FUTURE.  231 

lie  safety  will  not  permit  freedom  of  elections,  or 
else  that  politicians,  wielding  military  power,  will 
not  tolerate  freedom  of  elections  when  the  popular 
majority  is  against  them.  If  we  assume  that  the 
military  severity  to  which  citizens  have  been  sub 
jected,  and  the  measures  by  which  the  popular 
vote  was  controlled  by  the  military,  were  essen 
tial  to  the  public  safety  in  States  situated  like 
Maryland  and  Delaware,*  what  measures  may 
we  not  expect  in  the  more  distant  regions  and 
immense  territories  of  the  South,  and  with  a  whole 
people  disaffected  ?  In  those  sections  of  the  coun 
try,  even  the  enormous  military  force  of  which  I 
will  presently  give  an  estimate,  will  be  unable  to 
suppress  the  spirit  or  the  outward  manifestations  of 
disaffection.  The  military  authorities  will  be  per 
petually  engaged  in  detecting  or  punishing  real  or 
pretended  plots  and  conspiracies.  The  presence  of 
the  soldiers  of  the  conqueror  will  lead  to  continual 
collisions  with  the  conquered  people.  The  greater 
the  number  of  arrests,  imprisonments  and  courts- 
martial,  the  greater  will  be  the  necessity  for  them, 
and  the  more  frequent  their  recurrence.  The  hatred 
of  the  conquered  people  will  thus  increase  with 
the  means  adopted  for  its  suppression ;  its  cir 
cle  will  continually  widen ;  it  will  be  transmitted 

*  See  in  a  note  to  the  twelfth  chapter,  a  detailed 
statement  of  some  of  the  acts  which  attended  the  military 
interference  with  the  elections  in  those  States. 


232  THE    FUTURE. 

from  father  to  son ;  and  no  man  can  foresee  the  end 
'of  the  contest.  It  is  the  old  story  over  again — the 
same  sad  old  story,  which,  told  of  other  lands,  has 
so  often  aroused  our  sympathies  for  the  conquered 
and  our  indignation  against  the  conqueror,  in  days 
when  none  of  us  dreamed  that  he  would  live  to  see 
the  stars  and  stripes  float  over  a  Yenetia,  or  a 
Poland.  And  is  it  possible  to  suppose  that  while 
in  one-half  of  the  nation,  the  people  are  seething 
with  a  rebellion  suppressed  by  the  armed  hand,  and 
continually  struggling  against  a  usurped  govern 
ment,  and  the  military  power  by  which  it  is  upheld ; 
in  the  other  half,  an  opposition,  and  such  an  oppo 
sition  as  will  ~be  created  by  such  events,  can  be  allowed 
free  scope  in  the  press  and  upon  the  rostrum  daily 
to  inveigh  against  and  denounce  this  system  of 
government,  as  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  and 
an  outrage  upon  human  rights,  and  to  array  the 
Administration  which  has  adopted  it  before  the  bar 
of  public  opinion  ?  That  the  opposition  will  do  so 
if  permitted,  and  that  nothing  but  force  or  fear  will 
prevent  them  from  so  doing,  no  reader  will  for  a 
moment  doubt ;  and  yet  it  is  entirely  clear  that  the 
Government  cannot  exist  and  keep  the  South  in 
subjection  if  such  a  political  warfare  is  allowed  at 
the  North  ;  and  it  is  equally  clear  that  the  latter 
cannot  be  restrained  without  the  presence  of  a  large 
military  force  scattered  throughout  the  country. 
Let  us  inquire  how  large  a  force  will  be  requisite 


TIIE    FUTURE.  233 

to  carry  out  tlie  scheme  which  I  am  discussing,  and 
what  will  be  its  annual  cost. 

And  first,  a  few  words  respecting  the  burdens  to 
which  we  shall  be  subjected,  irrespective  of  the  cost 
of  the  army.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  his 
last  annual  report,  estimates  that  the  amount  of  our 
public  debt,  on  the  first  day  of  July,  1864,  will  be 
$1,686,956,641  44,  and  that  if  the  war  should  con 
tinue  with  an  undiminished  expenditure,  till  the 
first  day  of  July,  1865,  the  debt  will  then  reach  the 
amount  of  $2,231,935,190  57.  The  average  rate  of 
interest,  on  the  first  of  October,  1863,  was  3.95  per 
cent — this  low  rate  being  produced  by  the  large 
amount  of  the  debt  which  bears  no  interest,  the 
lowest  rate  at  which  the  funded  debt  is  now- 
negotiated  being  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  payable 
in  coin.  The  a-verage  rate  of  interest  has,  in  fact, 
been  increasing  since  the  first  of  July,  1863,  and 
as  the  Secretary  states,  "  it  is  obvious  that  it 
must  continue  to  increase  with  the  increase  of  the 
proportion  of  the  interest  bearing  to  the  non-interest 
bearing  debt ;"  and  the  utmost  limit  of  the  latter 
having  now  been  reached,  the  average  increase 
must  in  the  future  be  very  rapid.  I  know  of  no 
causes  which  will  operate  to  diminish  the  expenses 
of  the  war,  in  any  material  respect,  until  it  shall  be 
closed,  an  event  which,  if  force  alone  shall  be 
resorted  to,  can  hardly  be  expected  earlier  than  the 
campaign  of  1865.  On  the  contrary,  as  it  is  pro- 


234  THE    FUTURE. 

posed  to  augment  the  pay  of  the  army,  the  next  year 
will  probably  see  the  expenses  of  the  Government 
consideraby  increased  over  those  of  the  last  year. 
But  I  will  suppose  that  the  end  of  the  war  will  find 
us  with  a  debt  of  only  $2,000,000,000  upon  our 
hands,  and  that  the  average  rate  of  interest  will  not 
go  higher  than  five  per  cent.  Upon  this  calculation, 
we  must  raise  annually  the  sum  of  $100,000,000 
to  pay  the  interest  upon  our  debt  alone.  But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  this  is  payable  in.  coin, 
and  unless  the  very  improbable  contingency  should 
occur,  that  our  paper  money  will  then  equal  coin  in 
value,  there  must  be  added  to  this  sum  the  premium 
upon  gold  to  such  an  amount  as  shall  equal  the 
difference  between  the  receipts  from  customs  (last 
year  $69,059,642  40)  and  the  interest  upon  the 
debt.  To  this  sum,  enormous  as  it  is,  which  must 
be  raised  annually  by  direct  or  indirect  taxation  of 
the  wealth  and  industry  of  the  country,  must  bo 
added  the  amount  of  the  current  expenses  of  the 
Government.  Let  us  inquire  in  what  manner  these 
will  be  affected  by  the  policy  which  we  are  con 
sidering. 

The  returns  of  the  census  of  1860,  show  that 
there  were  in  that  year  the  following  number 
of  free  white  male  inhabitants  between  the  ages  of 
eighteen  and  forty-five  years,  in  each  of  the  seced 
ing  States : 


THE    FUTURE.  235 

Alabama                  .       .  .         .         .  99,967 

Arkansas 65,231 

Florida  ...                 .  15,139 

Georgia 111,005 

Louisiana         .         .         .         .         .  8-3,456 

Mississippi 70,295 

North  Carolina        ....  115,369 

South  Carolina        ....  55,046 

Tennessee 159,353 

.     Texas               92,145 

Virginia 196,587 

Total  in  eleven  States  .        .        .    1,064,193 

In  this  table  are  included  many  in  Tennessee  and 
in  the  dismembered  State  of  Virginia,  who  will  be 
a  source  of  strength  instead  of  weakness,  in  endea 
voring  to  carry  out  the  policy  of  subjugation.  The 
number  which  would  remain,  after  making  a  deduc 
tion  for  those,  must  undergo  a  still  further  diminu 
tion  for  physical  disabilities ;  although  in  estimating 
the  portion  of  the  population  which  is  capable  of 
causing  uneasiness  to  an  unpopular  government, 
the  percentage  to  be  allowed  for  that  cause  is  much 
less  than  if  we  were  estimating  how  many  men  were 
capable  of  regular  field  duty. 

Making  all  due  allowances  for  each  of  these 
causes,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  population  of  the 
States,  over  whom  it  is  proposed  to  establish  and 
maintain  by  force,  the  new  State  governments, 


236  THE  FUTURE. 

contained  in  the  year  1860  an  enormous  number, 
probably  not  less  than  from  six  to  seven  hundred 
thousand  of  arms-bearing  men,  who  are  or  have 
been  secessionists  and  rebels.  It  is  of  course  impos 
sible  to  compute  accurately  how  large  a  force  will 
be  required  to  keep  those  men  in  subjection.  Many 
of  them  have  been,  and  more  will  be  killed  or  dis 
abled  in  the  course  of  the  war;  and  on  the  other 
hand,  in  time  of  peace,  a  population  rapidly  fills  up 
gaps  of  that  kind,  and  the  show  as  well  as  the 
reality  of  military  power  is  essential  to  keep  down 
a  spirit  of  rebellion.  Many  of  them  will  submit 
to  the  new  system  outwardly — a  few  cordially — • 
and  on  the  other  hand,  the  number  of  such  men  will 
be  greater  or  less,  according  as  the  military  force  is 
of  itself  adequate  or  inadequate  to  sustain  the  new 
governments.  Considering  these  circumstances ; 
the  vast  extent  of  the  southern  territory ;  the 
character  of  the  country  over  which  the  sway  of 
the  nation  is  to  be  maintained  by  the  armed  hand; 
and  the  necessity  of  overawing  the  opposition  party 
by  a  strong  military  force  stationed  at  different 
points  in  the  North,  1  think,  after  mature  reflection, 
that  no  prudent  man  would  take  the  responsibility 
of  carrying  on  the  government,  unless  when  the 
new  policy  is  ushered  into  existence,  it  is  sustained 
by  a  military  establishment  of  at  least  three  hun 
dred  thousand  men.  These  figures  may  perhaps 
at  first  impress  the  reader  as  an  exaggeration ;  but 


THE    FUTURE.  237 

when  it  is  remembered  that  every  large  city  North 
and  South  will  require  a  garrison  ;  that  in  the 
South  every  custom-house  must  be  guarded  ;  and 
that  military  stations  must  be  scattered  throughout 
the  whole  country  to  suppress  guerrillas,  to  keep 
the  highways  open  by  land  and  by  water,  to  pro 
tect  obnoxiously  "loyal"  citizens,  to  enable  the 
State  authorities  to  carry  on  the  machinery  of 
government,  and  to  act  generally  as  a  Federal  and 
State  police,  I  think  that  the  number  of  men  which 
I  have  named,  will  be  found  inadequate  to  all  the 
duties  required  of  them,  rather  than  a  useless  burden 
upon  the  treasury. 

It  is  impossible  for  an  unofficial  person,  and  pro 
bably  equally  impossible  for  an  official,  to  get  at 
the  exact  cost  per  man  of  maintaining  the  army  at 
the  present  time  ;  but  we  have  a  few  data  upon 
which  to  base  a  tolerably  accurate  calculation. 
Several  years  ago  it  was  estimated  that  the  army 
annually  cost  the  Government  about  one  thousand 
dollars  for  each  enlisted  man.  But  as  the  establish 
ment  was  small,  the  number  of  officers  and  the 
expenses  of  the  ordinance  and  engineering  depart 
ments  was  then  greatly  disproportioned  to  the  num 
ber  of  the  rank  and  file  ;  and  the  restoration  of  the 
proper  proportions  in  those  respects  will  probably 
offset  the  increase  of  pay,  &c.,  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  the  present  expense  which  the  ratio 
bears  to  the  number  of  men.  In  December,  eighteen 


238  THE    FUTURE. 

hundred  and  sixty,  the  Secretary  of  War  asked  for 
an  appropriation  of  about  three  hundred  and  sixty 
millions  of  dollars  to  sustain  for  a  year  a  force  of 
five  hundred  thousand  men,  which  is  at  the  rate  of 
seven  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  for  each  man.*  I 
believe  that  the  latter  rate  is  too  low,  and  that  I 
have  under-estimated  the  number  that  the  subjuga 
tion  policy  will  require ;  but  taking  my  estimate  of 
numbers,  and  the  lowest  estimate  of  expense  per 
man,  as  a  basis  of  a  calculation,  the  cost  of  the  army 
will  .reach  the  appalling  sum  of  two  hundred  and 
sixteen  millions  of  dollars  per  annum.  When  to  this 
we  add  the  expenses  of  the  civil  establishment,  the 
interest  upon  the  debt,  and  the  expenses  of  the  navy, 
which  must  be  kept  up  to  a  considerable  proportion 
of  its  present  size,  the  mind  becomes  overwhelmed 

*  According  to  the  budget  of  1862-3,  it  costs  the 
British  nation  £15,139,379  to  maintain  an  army  of  145,450 
men,  or  in  round  numbers  $520  per  man.  But  nearly 
every  item  of  the  expense  of  the  British  army  is  much 
smaller  than  the  corresponding  item  in  our  service.  An 
English  infantry  soldier  gets  13  pence  per  diem,  from  which 
there  is  an  abatement  for  rations  of  about  8-J  pence,  leaving 
him  for  his  daily  pay  4J  pence,  or  $2  70  per  month.  The 
monthly  pay  of  an  American  infantry  soldier  is  $13  besides 
his  rations,  which  are  estimated  at  30  cents  per  diem 
against  17  for  the  Englishman.  A  corresponding  differ 
ence  against  us  exists  in  every  branch  of  the  service,  and 
also,  but  to  a  less  degree,  in  the  expense  of  clothing,  arms, 
jMnmimitioii,  and  supplies  of  all  kinds.  Upon  the  whole,  I 
doubt  if  the  army  costs  the  Government  less  than  $1,000 
for  each  enlisted  man. 


THE    FUTURE.  239 

in  attempting  to  devise  any  plan  by  which  our  com 
merce  and  industry  can  exist  under  such  frightful 
loads.  And  in  what  a  condition  will  the  nation  be  to 
carry  on  a  foreign  war,  already  burdened  with  such 
an  enormous  animal  expenditure,  and  with  a  rebel 
lious  population  in  its  midst,  whose  repression  taxes 
its  utmost  energies  in  time  of  peace  ?  The  theorizer 
who  believes  that  we  can  safely  consult  only  our 
own  interests  or  the  gratification  of  our  own  pas 
sions  in  dealing  with  the  southern  people  after  their 
subjection,  overlooks  that  law  of  retribution  by 
which  foreign  nations  avenge  the  injuries  which 
sovereigns  inflict  upon  their  own  subjects.  The 
more  completely  a  conquered  people  is  crushed,  the 
more  eagerly  do  they  turn  their  eyes  in  hope,  and 
stretch  out  their  arms  in  supplication  to  some  rival 
or  hereditary  enemy  of  their  oppressor.  Are  we 
prepared  to  create  in  our  midst  a  people  which  will 
look  for  the  display  of  the  "  meteor  flag "  upon 
their  coasts  and  in  their  country,  with  the  same 
feelings  with  which  Irishmen  for  more  than  one 
hundred  years  longed  to  see  the  white  flag  of  the 
Bourbons  and  the  tori-color  of  Napoleon  ? 

And  again,  whence  is  to  come  the  vast  army 
which  is  to  keep  our  brethren  in  chains  ?  Does 
anybody  believe  that  it  can  be  kept  up  by  volun 
tary  enlistments  ?  Is  the  population  of  the  North 
to  be  subjected  to  a  perpetual  conscription  to  main 
tain  it  ?  Can  we  permanently  spare  such  a  force 


240  THE    FUTURE. 

of  laborers  from  our  country  at  any  time — especially 
at  the  close  of  a  war,  which  lias  made  such  huge 
gaps  in  the  laboring  population,  and  when  the  pro 
ductive  capacity  of  the  nation  wrill  be  strained  to  its 
utmost  tension  to  raise  the  means  to  pay  the  interest 
on  our  enormous  debt  ? 

To  many  persons  the  problem  of  a  supply  of  men 
for  the  army  will  appear  to  admit  of  an  easy  solu 
tion  ;  they  will  tell  us  to  fill  up  the  ranks  with 
negroes.  But  such  a  remedy  would  but  aggravate 
the  disease.  The  employment  of  negro  soldiers  to 
keep  the  white  men  of  the  South  in  subjection, 
would  add  immeasurably  to  the  difficulty  of  doing 
that,  which  under  any  circumstances  presents  dif 
ficulties  apparently  insurmountable.  Should  such 
a  policy  be  adopted,  the  number  of  those  in  the 
"reconstructed"  States  who  would  take,  or  having 
taken,  would  keep  the  President's  oath,  would  be 
too  small  to  affect  appreciably  a  calculation  based 
upon  the  active  hostility  of  the  whole  population. 

It  would  intensify  beyond  calculation  throughout 
the  whole  South  the  fierceness  of  the  smothered 
passions,  and  it  would  add  a  large  population  in 
Missouri,  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  to  the  number 
of  those  who  must  be  kept  down  by  forcible  repres 
sion.  Nor  would  the  white  men  of  the  North  sub 
mit  to  be  overawed  by  a  negro  army.  No  plan 
could  be  devised  better  calculated  to  strengthen  the 
opposition  and  reduce  the  administration  party  to  a 


THE    FUTURE.  241 

shadow,  than  that  of  carrying  out  the  repressive 
policy  by  means  of  an  army  of  blacks.  The  states 
man  who  shall  attempt  it  will  need  a  force  suf 
ficiently  large  to  establish  at  once  a  naked  despotism 
over  the  whole  nation. 

Bat  I  forbear  to  pursue  the  subject  further. 
There  are  two  other  grave  questions  involved  in  the 
policy  of  subjugation,  the  discussion  of  which  I  will 
waive.  They  are — of  what  use  to  us  will  be  the 
impoverished  and  ruined  country  acquired  and 
retained  by  such  prodigious  sacrifices  ?  And  its 
kindred  question — will  the  freed  negro  work  ? 
Under  any  possible  solution  of  those  two  problems, 
as  a  mere  matter  of  profit  and  loss,  balancing  the 
expense  of  forcibly  retaining  the  South  in  the  Union, 
against  the  expansion  of  commerce,  the  increase 
of  revenues,  the  military  strength,  or  any  other  ele 
ments  of  national  greatness  which  we  fancy  will 
result  to  us  from  so  doing — the  speculation  will  be 
the  most  disastrous  that  any  nation  ever  under 
took. 

But  considerations  much  graver  than  those  of 
revenue  and  expenditure  are  also  involved  in  the 
issue,  to  which  I  will  now  ask  the  reader's  atten 
tion. 


11 


$42  THE    FUTURE. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Consideration  of  the  Policy  of  Subjugation,  under  Mr.  Sumner's 
Plan  or  the  President's  Plan,  with  reference  to  its  effects  upon 
Popular  Institutions  at  the  North — The  Constitutional  Restric 
tions  upon  the  General  Government  were  framed  for  the  purpose 
of  preventing  the  Downfall  of  Public  Liberty — The  tendency  of 
the  Government  to  disregard  them — 'I  he  Barriers  erected  to 
check  that  tendency — The  Independence  of  the  States  was  one 
of  those  Barriers — The  effect  of  the  proposed  "  Reconstruction  " 
will  be  to  destroy  it — The  Independence  of  the  Legislature  and 
Judiciary  constitutes  another  Barrier — It  was  secured  by  the 
Dependence  of  the  President  upon  them  and  of  the  Legislature 
upon  the  People — It  was  further  secured  by  the  President's  Per 
sonal  Responsibility — The  Provisions  to  protect  the  Liberties  of 
the  individual  Citizen  added  to  give  it  greater  Strength — Con 
sideration  of  the  Doctrine  that  the  Provisions  protecting  Personal 
Liberty  are  not  applicable  to  a  time  of  Civil  Commotion — Its 
effect  in  destroying  the  Responsibility  of  the  President  and  of  the 
Legislature  to  the  People — Its  effect  in  destroying  the  Independ 
ence  of  the  Legislature  and  Judiciary,  and  rendering  the  Pesident 
independent  of  both — The  President's  Plan  is  even  more  dan 
gerous  than  Mr.  Sumner's — The  policy  of  Subjugation  under 
either  Plan  frees  the  Executive  from  Control  or  Responsibility, 
and  leaves  the  Liberties  of  the  People  at  his  mercy  —Effect  of  the 
vast  Increase  of  the  Annual  Expenses  of  the  Government  which 
it  involves,  in  disposing  the  Wealthy  Classes  to  the  Abolition  of 
Popular  Government— The  presence  of  a  large  Standing  Army 
will  destroy  the  Popular  Appreciation  of  the  existing  Form  of, 
Government. 

ON  the  sixteenth  of  December,   1861,    Senator 
Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  in  the  course  of  a  debate 


THE    FUTURE.  243 

in  the  United  States  Senate  upon  the  arbitrary 
arrests  made  in  the  loyal  States  by  direction  of  the 
Administration,  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  You  may  gain  your  victories  on  the  sea,  you 
may  sweep  the  enemy  from  the  broad  ocean,  and 
from  all  its  arms,  and  from  all  its  rivers,  until  you 
may  hoist,  as  the  Dutch  admiral  once  hoisted  at  the 
head  of  his  flag-staff,  a  broom,  indicative  that  you 
have  swept  the  ocean  of  your  foes ;  and  you  may 
crush  every  rebel  that  is  arrayed  against  you  and 
utterly  break  their  power;  and  when  you  have  done 
all  that,  when  you  have  established  a  military 
power  such  as  the  earth  never  saw,  such  as  England 
never  aspired  to  be,  and  constitutional  liberty  shall 
be  buried  amid  the  ashes  of  that  conflagration  in 
which  you  have  overcome  and  destroyed  your  foes, 
then,  sir,  you  will  have  got  but  a  barren  victory, 
and  with  all  your  glory  you  will  but  have  achieved 
your  everlasting  shame." 

I  shall  discuss  in  this  and  the  next  succeeding 
chapter,  the  effect  upon  the  free  institutions  of  our 
country,  of  the  establishment  throughout  the  South 
of  any  system  of  government  which  must  be  main 
tained  by  military  force  against  the  will  of  the 
people,  whether  it  shall  consist  of  territorial  govern 
ments  under  Mr.  Sumner's  plan,  or  of  revolutionary 
State  governments  as  contemplated  by  the  Presi 
dent's  scheme  of  "  reconstruction."  I  shall  endeavor 
to  show  that  such  a  termination  of  the  war  must 


24:4:  THE    FUTURE. 

inevitably  be  followed  by  the  abolition  of  the  right 
of  the  people  to  choose  their  rulers,  or  its  corruption 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  reduce  it  to  a  mere  formality. 
The  system  of  arbitrary  arrests,  from  which  Senator 
Hale  apprehended  the  consequences  so  graphically 
described  by  him,  will  constitute  the  principal  ele 
ment  of  a  political  complication  that  will  render 
the  maintenance  of  constitutional  liberty  impossible, 
and  at  the  same  time  furnish  one  of  the  chief  instru 
ments  of  its  overthrow.  For  that  reason,  I  have 
here  put  his  warning  upon  record.  The  words  are 
those  of  an  eminent  and  enthusiastic  supporter  not 
only  of  the  war,  but  of  the  objects  with  wrhich  it 
has  been  prosecuted,  and  the  means  which  have 
been  employed  to  accomplish  them — of  an  extreme 
anti-slavery  man — of  a  zealous,  not  to  say  an  intole 
rant  partisan — of  a  man  wThose  political  principles 
and  party  standing  preclude  the  supposition  that 
they  were  spoken  for  effect  or  for  factious  purposes. 
Coming  from  such  lips,  and  uttered  in  such  a 
debate,  they  possess  a  significance  and  importance 
which  cannot  be  over-estimated.  Let  them  fall 
upon  the  ears  of  the  American  people  "  like  a  fire- 
bell  in  the  night;"  arousing  the  nation  from  a 
fatal  slumber — the  torpor  of  indifference  and  incre 
dulity — during  which  the  flames  which  are  now 
raging  around  the  edifice  of  the  Union,  threaten 
also  to  destroy  the  kindred  fabric  of  public  liberty. 
I  have  referred  in  a  preceding  part  of  this  work 


THE    FUTURE.  245 

to  the  balance  of  power  which  the  Constitution 
establishes,  and  which  I  contended  could  not  right 
fully  be  disturbed  in  any  part  of  the  country  with 
out  infringing  upon  the  rights  of  every  other  part.* 
I  said  that  the  exercise  by  the  general  Government 
in  any  State  of  powers  and  authority  which  the 
Constitution  has  withheld  from  it,  would  be  an 
injury  not  only  to  that  State  and  its  people,  but  also 
to  every  other  State,  and  to  every  citizen  of  every 
other  State — that  it  would  be  a  usurpation  by  which 
every  individual  in  the  nation  would  be  wronged. 
As  the  principles  upon  which  this  proposition 
depends  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  sub 
ject  which  we  are  now  considering,  I  will  state  them 
somewhat  in  detail. 

The  Constitution  was  intended  to  be  framed  so  as 
to  insure  its  own  perpetuity,  and  its  wise  framers 
taxed  their  utmost  ability  to  foresee  and  provide 
against  the  dangers  to  which  it  might  be  exposed. 
One  of  those  dangers — the  one  in  fact  from  which 
the  greatest  apprehension  was  entertained — was  the 
tendency  of  the  central  Government  to  draw  to 
itself  the  powers  and  functions  of  internal  adminis 
tration.  These  were  (with  a  few  exceptions  which 
have  been  specified)  reserved  jealously  to  the 
States;  and  the  utmost  care  was  taken  to  exclude 
the  general  Government  from  their  exercise.  This 

*  See  Chapter  iii.,  pp.  71  to  73. 


24:6  TPIE    FUTURE. 

jealousy  of  the  central  power  proceeded  from 
a  well  founded  apprehension,  that  a  government 
to  which  should  be  confided  the  internal  adminis 
tration  of  such  a  vast  extent  of  territory  as  the 
Union  comprised,  must  soon  degenerate  into  a 
despotism.  It  was  thought  that  it  would  be  en 
tirely  too  colossal  to  survive ;  that  the  diver 
sity  of  interests  between  the  different  portions  of 
such  an  immense  empire  would  lead  to  the  tyranny 
of  one  section  over  the  other,  or  of  the  larger  over 
the  smaller  States  ;  that  the  passions  which  would 
be  aroused  thereby  would  create  too  eager  a  contest 
for  the  possession  of  its  immense  power  and  patron 
age  ;  and  that  popular  liberty  must  soon  perish,  if 
such  a  brilliant  prize  was  subjected  at  short  inter 
vals  to  the  result  of  a  heated  canvass  among  the 
masses  of  the  people.  The  evils  of  an  elective  chief- 
magistracy  in  a  single  State  has  been  apparent  to 
the  whole  world  by  the  disorders  and  corruptions 
to  which  the  kingdom  of  Poland*  had  been  for 
centuries  exposed,  although  the  power  of  election 
was  confided  in  that  country  to  a  diet  controlled  by 
the  nobles  and  men  of  wealth,  and  the  State  itself 
was  insignificant  in  territory  and  population,  com 
pared  with  the  mighty  domain  that  our  fathers 
expected  would  grow  up  under  the  Constitution 
which  they  were  framing.  Hence  the  statesmen  of 

*  Poland  styled  itself  a  republic,  and  it  was,  in  fact,  an 
aristocratic  republic,  with  an  elective  chief  magistrate. 


THE    FUTURE.  247 

that  day  were  almost  unanimously  of  the  opinion 
that  the  powers  of  the  general  Government  should 
be  restricted  to  the  smallest  possible  compass-,  con 
sistent  with  the  discharge  of  the  functions  for  which 
it  was  created.  In  this  manner  it  was  supposed 
that  the  danger  of  the  conversion  of  the  republic 
into  a  monarchy  would  be  averted.  It  was  held, 
first,  that  such  a  restriction,  by  confining  the  Gov 
ernment  chiefly  to  the  management  of  the  external 
affairs  of  the  nation,  would  greatly  limit  the  amount 
of  its  power  and  patronage,  and  prevent  its  opera 
ting  directly  upon  the  interests  and  feelings  of  the 
masses  of  the  people  ;  thus  the  prize  to  be  contended 
for  would  be  less  brilliant,  and  the  competition  for 
its  possession  would  provoke  less  popular  passion ; 
and  secondly,  it  was  supposed  that  the  force  of  the 
periodical  struggle  for  power  in  the  nation  would 
be  greatly  weakened  by  creating  a  similar  struggle 
for  power  in  the  States,  the  legislation  and  admin 
istration  of  which  more  directly  affected  the  peo 
ple.* 

But  the  limitations  having  been  established,  the 
next  question  was,  how  should  the  national  Govern- 


*  "  Into  the  administration  of  these  (the  States)  a 
greater  number  of  individuals  will  expect  to  rise.  From 
the  gift  of  these,  a  greater  number  of  offices  and  emolu 
ments  will  flow.  By  the  superintending  care  of  these,  all 
the  more  domestic  and  personal  interests  of  the  people  will 
be  regulated  and  provided  for." — The  Federalist,  No.  46. 


248  THE    FUTURE. 

ment,  powerful  as  it  must  be  even  with,  the  restric 
tions  to  which  it  was  to  be  subjected,  be  prevented 
from  overstepping  them  and  usurping  the  powers 
which  belonged  to  the  States  ? 

Many  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
because  they  could  see  no  means  of  escape  from 
this  danger,  without  so  circumscribing  the  powers 
of  the  central  authority  as  to  render  it  but  little 
more  efficient  than  the  Congress  of  the  Confedera 
tion.  But  the  friends  of  the  Constitution  answered 
their  opponents,  by  a  reference  to  certain  features 
of  the  system,  which  had,  they  said,  erected  two 
ample  barriers  against  usurpation.  The  first  of 
these  was  THE  INDEPENDENCE  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  OF 
THE  STATES,  and  I  find  the  argument  as  to  its  suf 
ficiency,  admirably  condensed  in  the  twenty-eighth 
number  of  The  Federalist,  from  which  I  make  the 
following  extract : 

"  In  a  single  State,  if  the  persons  intrusted  with 
the  supreme  power  become  usurpers,  the  different 
parcels,  subdivisions,  or  districts  of  which  it  con 
sists,  having  no  distinct  government  in  each,  can 
take  no  regular  measures  for  defence.  The  citizens 

O 

must  rush  tumultuously  to  arms,  without  concert, 
without  system,  without  resource,  except  in  their 
courage  and  despair.  The  usurpers,  clothed  with 
the  forms  of  legal  authority,  can  too  often  crush  the 

opposition  in  embryo But  in  a  confederacy, 

the  people  without  exaggeration  may  be  said  to  be 


THE    FUTURE. 


249 


entirely  the  masters  of  their  own  fate.  Power  being 
almost  always  the  rival  of  power,  the  general 
Government  will  at  all  times  stand  ready  to  check 
the  usurpations  of  the  State  governments,  and  those 
will  have  the  same  disposition  towards  the  general 
Government.  The  people,  by  throwing  themselves 
into  either  scale,  wTill  infallibly  make  it  prepon 
derate.  If  their  rights  are  invaded  by  either,  they 
can  make  use  of  the  other  as  an  instrument  of 
redress.  How  wise  will  it  be  in  them  by  cherishing 
the  Union  to  preserve  to  themselves  an  advantage 
which  can  never  be  too  highly  prized  ! 

"  It  may  safely  be  received  as  an  axiom  in  our 
political  system,  that  the  State  governments  will,  in 
all  possible  contingencies,  afford  complete  security 
against  invasions  of  the  public  liberty  by  the 
national  authority They  can  readily  com 
municate  with  each  other  in  the  different  States, 
and  unite  their  common  forces,  for  the  protection 

of  their  common  liberty If  the  Federal  army 

should  be  able  to  quell  the  resistance  of  one  State, 
the  distant  States  would  have  it  in  their  power  to 

make  head  with  fresh  forces When  will  the 

time  arrive  that  the  Federal  Government  can  raise 
and  maintain  an  army,  capable  of  erecting  a  des 
potism  over  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  an 
immense  empire,  who  are  in  a  situation,  through 
the  medium  of  their  State  governments,  to  take 
measures  for  their  own  defence  with  all  the  celerity, 


250  THE    FUTURE. 

regularity  and  system  of  independent  nations? 
The  apprehension  may  be  considered  as  a  disease 
for  which  there  can  be  found  no  cure  in  the  re 
sources  of  argument  and  reasoning."  * 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  our  forefathers  antici 
pated  danger  to  public  liberty  from  the  centralizing 
tendency  of  the  national  Government,  and  relied 
upon  the  States  in  their  separate  and  collective 
capacities,  to  avert  that  danger  by  restraining  the 
general  Government  within  its  allotted  limits,  by 
every  means  at  their  command,  including  force,  if 
necessary.  But  how  does  the  policy  of  subjugation 
propose  to  affect  this  safeguard  of  our  liberties  ? 
"Whether  Mr.  Sumner's  or  the  President's  plan  shall 
be  adopted,  it  is  evident  that  we  shall,  to  use  a 

*  The  paper  from  which  this  extract  is  taken,  was 
written  by  Mr.  Hamilton.  Precisely  the  same  ideas  are 
expressed  in  the  forty-sixth  number,  written  by  Mr.  Madi 
son,  an  extract  from  which  is  contained  in  the  note  to  page 
247.  An  unbroken  series  of  commentators  upon  the  Con 
stitution  attest  the  necessity,  if  we  would  preserve  our 
liberties,  of  jealously  maintaining-  in  their  full  integrity  the 
State  governments,  which  Mr.  Jefferson  aptly  calls  "  the 
surest  bulwarks  against  anti-republican  tendencies  ;"  and 
Rufus  Choate,  even  more  tersely,  "  the  police  of  the  Union." 
Until  the  war  broke  out,  there  was  no  difference  of  opinion 
among  the  people  upon  this  subject,  The  "  Chicago  plat 
form"  of  1860  vies  with  the  "Baltimore  platform"  in 
affirming  this  doctrine  ;  it  declares  that  "the  maintenance 
inviolate  of  the  rights  of  the  States"  is  "essential  to  that 
balance  of  power,  upon  which  the  perfection  AND  ENDURANCE 
of  our  political  fabric  depends." 


THE    FUTURE.  951 

popular  phrase,  burn  our  candle  at  both  ends.  The 
one  contemplates  that  the  conquered  territory  shall 
be,  for  an  indefinite  future,  governed  by  executive 
and  judicial  officers  appointed  by  the  President, 
and  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  and  that  its  legisla 
tion  shall  be  controlled  either  by  the  same  officers 
or  directly  by  Congress  ;  the  other  proposes  that  it 
shall  be  governed  by  officers  chosen  by  a  minority 
of  the  people.  In  either  case  the  system  rests  upon 
a  high-handed  and  forcible  usurpation  ;  and  in 
either  case,  martial  or  military  law  must  constitute 
the  most  important  ingredient  of  government; 
indeed  it  will  be,  in  most  of  the  States,  the  only 
element  which  gives  the  local  government  any  sta 
bility,  and  insures  the  officers  who  administer  the 
latter  personal  protection,  as  well  as  the  ability  to 
discharge  their  duties.  So  that  in  the  one  case  the 
general  Government  directly,  and  in  the  other  case 
the  President  indirectly,  will  control  the  internal 
administration  of  the  vast  territory  and  population 
of  the  South  ;  and  the  patronage  directly  or  indi 
rectly  at  the  command  of  the  Executive  will  be 
swelled  to  an  amount  exceeding,  it  is  believed,  that 
of  any  crowned  head  in  the  world.  Thus  the  prize 
to  be  contended  for  at  the  national  elections,  will 
be  so  immeasurably  increased  in  value,  as  to  offer 
an  irresistible  temptation  to  such  incumbents  of 
public  office  as  we  are  likely  to  have  in  these 


252  THE    FUTURE. 

degenerate  times,  to  retain  their  grasp  of  the  reins 
of  power,  by  any  measures,  however  violent  and 
illegal,  which  are  consistent  with  their  personal 
safety.  And  at  the  same  time  the  ability  of  the 
States  to  check  usurpation  will  be  correspondingly 
destroyed,  first  by  the  immense  aggregation  of 
material  power  which  either  scheme  will  place 
within  the  control  of  the  central  Government ; 
secondly,  by  the  diminution  of  the  importance  of 
the  State  governments  which  the  process  of  centrali 
zation  is  sure  to  produce  ;  and  thirdly,  by  a  dimi 
nution  of  the  number  of  the  States,  whose  combined 
action  wras  relied  upon  to  make  head  against  usur 
pation.  Thus  the  policy  of  subjugation  operates 
directly  to  break  down  ONE  OF  THE  TWO  GKEAT 

BULWARKS     WHICH     PROTECT     TIIK     LIBERTIES     OF     THE 

PEOPLE.  And  within  seventy-h' ve  years  after  Ham 
ilton  characterized  an  apprehension,  that  the  time 
would  ever  arrive  when  the  Federal  Government 
could  raise  and  maintain  an  army,  capable  of  mena 
cing  the  independence  of  a  people  protected  b;y 
their  State  governments,  as  "  a  disease  for  which 
there  can  be  found  no  cure  in  the  resources  of  argu 
ment  and  reasoning,"  eminent  statesmen  are  re 
commending  the  American  people  to  pursue  a 
policy,  which  will  reduce  the  States  everywhere  to 
but  little  more  than  boards  of  local  police ;  will 
convert  eleven  of  them  into  mere  satellites  of  the 


THE    FUTURE.  253 

general  Government ;  and  will  place  at  the  disposal 
of  the  latter  an  army  exceeding  a  quarter  of  a  mil 
lion  of  men ! 

The  second  great  bulwark  of  popular  liberty 
established  by  the  Constitution,  was  THE  INDEPEND 
ENCE  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  AND  JUDICIAL  DEPART 
MENTS,*  which  it  was  said  rendered  them  amply 
able  to  protect  themselves  and  the  people  against 
the  encroachments  of  the  executive  department, 
from  which  the  danger  of  usurpation  was  mainly 
apprehended  ;  while  the  immediate  dependence  of 
one  branch  of  the  Legislature  upon  the  people,  and 
the  fact  that  the  other  branch  represented  the 
States  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  was  a  sufficient 
guaranty  against  the  Legislature  becoming  so  cor 
rupted  or  influenced  by  the  head  of  the  executive 
department,  as  to  tolerate  any  attempt  which  he 
might  make  upon  the  liberties  of  the  nation.  And 
it  was  supposed  that  any  such  attempt,  without 
their  toleration,  was  sufficiently  guarded  against  by 
the  liability  of  the  President  to  impeachment. 
That  feature  of  the  proposed  system  which  exposes 
the  President  to  punishment,  was  kept  prominently 
before  the  people  in  the  discussions  which,  preceded 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  for  the  purpose  of 

*  See  The,  Federalist,  Nos.  41  to  51,  written  by  Mr 
Madison.  His  conclusion  is,  that  the  greatest  danger  to 
be  apprehended  from  usurpation,  is  that  the  Legislature 
will  usurp  the  prerogatives  of  the  Executive 


OF  THE 

UNIVER? 

OK 


254  THE    FUTURE. 

allaying  their  apprehensions  respecting  the  possi 
bility  of  his  subverting  their  liberties.  Thus  The 
federalist  says  (No.  39),  "The  President  of  the 
United  States  is  impeachable  at  any  time  during 
the  tenure  of  his  office ;"  and  again  (No.  69),  uThe 
President  of  the  United  States  would  be  liable  to  be 
impeached,  tried,  and  upon  conviction  of  treason, 
bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors, 

removed  from  office In   this  delicate   and 

important  circumstance  of  personal  responsibility, 
the  President  of  confederated  America  would  stand 
on  no  better  ground  than  a  governor  of  New  York, 
and  upon  worse  ground  than  the  governors  of  Vir 
ginia  and  Delaware."  And  again,  "  The  President 
of  the  United  States  would  be  an  officer  elected  by 
the  people  for  four  years ;  the  king  of  Great  Britain 
is  a  perpetual  and  hereditary  prince.  The  one 
would  be  amenable  to  personal  punishment  and 
disgrace  ;  the  person  of  the  other  is  sacred  and 
inviolable."  And  again,  in  No.  70,  treating  of  the 
Executive,  "The  ingredients ivhieh  constitute  safety 
in  the  republican  sense,  are  a  due  dependence  upon 
the  people  and  a  due  responsibility." 

Thus  it  was  supposed,  that  by  the  independence 
of  the  Legislature  and  the  President's  responsibility 
to  it,  the  liberties  of  the  nation  were  effectually 
secured  against  the  usurpations  of  the  Executive. 
At  the  same  time,  great  dissatisfaction  was  mani 
fested  at  the  omission  of  the  convention  to  incorpo- 


THE    FUTURE.  255 

rate  a  bill  of  rights  into  the  Constitution,  so  as  to 
secure  the  liberties  of  the  individual  against  the 
exercise  either  of  unlawful  powers,  or  of  lawful 
powers  in  an  oppressive  manner.  The  eighty-fourth 
number  of  The  Federalist  is  principally  devoted  to 
showing  that  the  Constitution  is  not  open  to  any 
solid  objections  by  reason  of  that  omission  ;  but  the 
alarm  which  the  absence  of  a  bill  of  rights  aroused 
was  so  great,  that  although,  after  a  long  hesitation 
on  the  part  of  some  of  the  States,  the  Constitution 
was  ratified  by  the  requisite  number,  several  of  the 
conventions  expressed  officially  an  earnest  wrish  to 
have  amendments  immediately  incorporated  into  it, 
which  should  supply  that  omission.  And  accord 
ingly,  several  "declaratory  and  restrictive"  amend 
ments  to  the  Constitution  were  at  once  adopted,  in 
order,  as  expressed  in  their  preamble,  "  to  prevent 
misconstruction  or  abuse  of  its  powers"  among 
which  were  the  following : 

"  Congress  shall  make  no  law  ....  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press,  or  the  right 
of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition 
the  Government  for  a  redress  of  grievances.  The 
right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons, 
houses,  papers  and  effects,  against  unreasonable 
searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated  ;  and  no 
warrant  shall  issue  but  upon  probable  cause,  sup 
ported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly 
describing  the  place  to  be  searched  or  the  person  to 


2 ;•>,•>  THE    FUTURE. 

be  seized.  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a 
rcapital  or  otherwise  infamous  crime,  unless  upon  a 
presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  except 
in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces  or  in  the 
militia,  when  in  actual  service,  in  time  of  war  or 
public  danger ;  nor  shall  any  person  ....  be  de 
prived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due 
process  of  law.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the 
accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  public 
trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  district 
where  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed  ;  which 
district  shall  have  been  previously  ascertained  by 
law ;  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause 
of  the  accusation  ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  wit 
nesses  against  him  ;  to  have  compulsory  process  for 
obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor ;  and  to  have  the 
assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defence." 

These  provisions  for  the  "  due  responsibility"  of 
the  Executive,  the  independence  of  the  legislature, 
and  the  protection  of  the  individual  from  arbitrary 
punishments  or  seizures,  in  person  or  in  property, 
were  therefore  regarded  by  our  forefathers  as  ess/n- 
tial  to  the  preservation  of  public  liberty,  even  in  a 
time  when  corruption  and  unregulated  ambition  were 
almost  wholly  unknown,  and  party  spirit  compara 
tively  so,  in  the  administration  of  our  public  affairs. 

Now  let  us  examine  in  what  manner  the  efficiency 
and  stability  of  this,  the  second  of  the  constitutional 
bulwarks  against  usurpation,  will  be  affected  by 


THE    FUTURE.  257 

the  subjugation  policy,  under  either  of  the  two 
plans  to  which  I  have  referred.  And  for  that  pur 
pose  I  must  consider  the  nature,  extent,  and  practi 
cal  operation  of  the  power  which  the  President 
assumes  to  exercise  over  the  persons  and  property 
of  individuals  during  invasion  and  rebellion.*  I 
do  not  intend  to  discuss  the  question  whether  he  is 
correct  in  his  conclusion  that  the  Constitution  con 
fers  such  power  upon  him.  I  will  assume,  for  the 
purpose  of  considering  the  question,  that  it  does ; 
and  this  involves  necessarily  the  further  assumption 
that  he  will  use  and  exercise  this  power  until  the 
complete  pacification  of  the  country,  and  conse 
quently  during  all  the  time  when  the  aid  of  the  mili 
tary  is  necessary  to  compel  obedience  to  the  Govern 
ment.  For  whatever  opinion  may  be  entertained 
respecting  the  existence  of  this  particular  power, 
I  apprehend  that  it  will  not  be  denied  that  any 
power,  which  is  in  fact  confided  to  the  President's 

*  The  reader  will  readily  perceive  that  in  my  future 
comments  upon  the  abuses  to  which  this  power  will  give 
rise,  and  the  dangers  to  be  apprehended  from  its  exercise, 
in  case  the  policy  of  subjugation  shall  be  adopted,  no  per 
sonal  allusion  is  intended  to  the  present  incumbent  of  the 
executive  chair.  My  argument  is  confined  to  what  may 
be  expected  during  the  term  of  office  of  his  successor  ;  and 
it  is  entirely  immaterial  to  my  conclusions  whether  the  next 
President  shall  be  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  or  any  other  gen 
tleman  professing  the  principles  of  constitutional  law  and 
of  political  science,  under  which  he  is  now  administering 
the  government 


258  THE    FUTURE. 

hands,  to  be  exercised  during  invasion  or  rebellion, 
will  continue  in  full  force  until  the  one  is  com 
pletely  repelled  or  the  other  effectually  subdued,  so 
that  they  are  no  longer  imminent. 

There  have  been,  since  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  many  military,  or  as  they  are  called,  arbitrary 
arrests  of  citizens,  for  words  spoken,  written,  or 
printed,  in  addressing  their  fellow-citizens  in  con 
demnation  of  the  war,  or  the  general  policy  or  par 
ticular  acts  of  the  administration.  But  before  the 
spring  of  1863  it  was  generally  supposed  that  these 
acts  were  conceded  by  their  authors  to  be  illegal 
violations  of  the  clauses  of  the  Constitution  which 
I  have  cited,  and  that  they  were  justified  solely 
upon  the  ground  of  extreme  public  necessity.  It 
was  said  that  the  constitutional  prohibitions  and 
guaranties  were  overridden  by  the  supreme  law  of 
self-preservation,  applicable  to  nations  as  well  as 
individuals,  and  embodied  in  the  maxim  a  Salus 
populi  suprema  lex."  Such  was  the  character  of 
the  debate  in  which  Senator  Hale  made  the  speech 
with  an  extract  from  which  this  chapter  com 
mences,*  and  in  the  letter  of  the  President  to  the 

*  In  the  course  of  the  same  debate,  Senator  Dixon,  of 
Connecticut,  arguing  in  favor  of  the  propriety  of  the 
arrests,  said,  "  I  shall  not  vote  for  an  inquiry  into  the 
legality  of  these  arrests.  They  find  their  justification  in 
the  dire  necessity  of  the  times."  Senator  'Fessuiidon,  of 
Maine,  on  the  same  side,  said,  "I  will  say  here  that  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  the  slightest  warrant  of  law  for  any 


THE    FUTURE.  259 

Albany  committee,  which  will  be  presently  referred 
to,  the  latter  admits  that  it  is  only  "  by  degrees  " 
that  he  has  been  "forced  to  regard  "  these  measures 
"  as  being  within  the  exceptions  of  the  Constitu 
tion,"  as  well  as  "indispensable  to  the  public 
safety."  Accordingly  a  statute  of  indemnity  was 
supposed  to  be  necessary  in  order  to  avoid  the  legal 
consequences  of  such  acts,  and  such  a  statute  was 
passed  at  the  third  session  of  the  thirty-seventh 
Congress.  It  appears  however  by  two  semi-official 
letters  of  the  President  explaining  the  proceedings 
in  Mr.  Vallandigham's  case,  one  addressed  to  a 
committee  of  citizens  of  Albany,  and  dated  June 
12,  1863,  and  the  other  to  a  committee  of  the  Ohio 
Democratic  State  Convention,  and  dated  June  26, 
1863,  that  the  power  to  arrest  and  imprison  citizens 
iu  any  part  of  the  country,  for  using  language 
which  he  shall  judge  to  be  calculated  to  diminish 
the  efficiency  of  the  army,  is  lodged  with  him  by 
the  Constitution  itself  during  an  invasion  or  insur 
rection.  It  is  therefore  not  subject  to  regulation, 
modification,  or  repeal,  by  the  legislature,  but  it  is 
to  be  exercised  without  any  accountability  on  the 
part  of  the  President,  except  to  his  own  con- 
such  proceeding,  and  I  do  not  suppose  you  will  find  a 
lawyer  in  the  country  who  does  think  there  is  any  warrant 
of  law  for  any  such  proceeding,  and  yet  I  do  not  shrink 

from  it I  justify  the  act  although  it  was  against 

law  ;  I  justify  it  from  the  necessity  of  the  case." 


260  THE   FUTURE. 

science,  and  his  ultimate  liability  to  impeachment. 
And  the  President  does  not  leave  us  in  doubt  re 
specting  the  character  of  the  language  which  he  con 
strues  as  being  calculated  to  impair  the  efficiency  of 
the  army,  or  the  circumstances  of  its  use  which  ex 
pose  the  speaker  to  arrest  and  imprisonment.  For 
he  says  expressly  that  the  man  who  excites  hostility 
to  the  continuance  of  the  war,  and  appeals  to  the 
people  to  elevate  to  power  men  who  will  make 
peace,  is  employing  language  which  damages  the 
army,  and  therefore  gives  the  military  jurisdiction 
over  him  :  and  he  implies,  almost  expressly  avows, 
that  any  language  tending  to  bring  the  military 
policy  of  the  administration  into  disrepute,  is  to  be 
regarded  as  falling  within  the  same  category.  The 
use  of  objectionable  words,  he  says,  amounts  to 
"  warring  upon  the  military,"  whether  they  are 
addressed  directly  to  soldiers  or  to  individuals  in- 
tendino-  to  enlist,  or  whether  the  same  result  is 

o 

effected  "  by  getting  a  father,  or  brother,  or  friend 
into  a  public  meeting  and  there  working  upon  his 
feelings  till  he  is  persuaded  to  write  to  the  soldier- 
boy  "  in  such  a  manner  as  to  tempt  him  to  desert. 

I  need  not  spend  any  time  in  showing  that  the 
3ame  argument  by  which  it  is  proved  that  such 
power  exists  over  individuals,  will  also  establish 
the  fact  of  its  existence  over  a  much  more  powerful 
organ  of  the  expression  of  public  or  individual 
opinion,  the  newspaper  press ;  and  in  fact  ob- 


THE    FUTURE. 


noxious  newspapers  have  been  repeatedly  silenced. 
And  without  discussing  the  question  whether 
the  President's  arbitrary  power  has  been  already 
abused  in  any  instance  of  its  exercise,  either  over 
individuals  or  newspapers,  I  may  say  that  its  use, 
in  truth  the  very  object  for  which  it  is  evoked  from 
the  constitutional  shades  in  which  it  has  so  long 
lain  hidden,  is  to  repress  criticism  of  the  acts  of  the 
President  and  his  subordinates,  to  whatever  extent 
the  President  himself  may  deem  proper,  without 
regulation,  control,  or  review,  by  any  other  depart 
ment  of  the  Government.  As  I  have  already 
stated,  the  President  will,  if  the  subjugation  pro 
gramme  is  carried  out,  enjoy  this  prerogative  dur 
ing  the  indefinite  future  which  is  to  elapse  before 
the  execution,  imprisonment,  and  confiscation  of 
the  property  of  the  principal  citizens,  and  usurped 
military  dominion  over  the  whole  community,  will 
have  won  back  the  affections  of  the  southern  poo- 
pie  to  the  national  Government,  and  rendered  them 
proper  subjects  for  the  enjoyment  of  free  institu 
tions.  And  although  his  own  sense  of  propriety,  or  a 
fear  of  arousing  public  feeling  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  affect  the  next  Presidential  election,  has  of 
late  greatly  limited  its  exercise,  it  rests  entirely 
within  the  President's  own  discretion  to  what  ex 
tent  and  for  what  causes  it  shall  be  employed  in 
future. 

Let  us  now  consider  what  effect  the  exercise  of 


2(30  THE    FUTURE. 

i 

sucli  a  power  will  have  upon  the  President's 
responsibility,  in  the  discharge  of  the  vast  functions 
of  administration  which  either  plan  will  devolve 
upon  him.  And  in  the  first  place,  it  may  be  re 
marked  that  the  very  object  of  its  exercise  is  to 
fetter  the  expression  of  public  opinion,  which  even 
when  confined  to  public  discussion,  is  one  of  the 
most  powerful  checks  upon  misgovermnent.  The 
importance  even  of  public  discussion  to  the  liber 
ties  of  the  people  is  recognized  in  its  careful  preser 
vation  by  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
which  I  have  quoted — an  importance  which  is  not 
diminished  by  the  circumstance,  if  such  be  the  fact, 
that  those  provisions  were  only  intended  to  be 
operative  in  time  of  peace.  But  our  Constitution 
provides  for  the  expression  of  popular  opinion  by 
periodical  acts,  which  are  to  have  a  direct  and  con 
trolling  influence  upon  the  action  of  the  Govern 
ment — the  election  of  public  officers  to  various 
stations,  high  and  low,  in  the  Federal  and  the  State 
Governments.  And  liberty  of  speech  and  liberty 
of  the  press  have  been  for  centuries  recognized  as 
indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  popular  liberty 
in  all  free  governments,  and  to  a  fair  expression  of 
the  popular  will  at  the  polls.  Their  suppression  is 
invariably  the  first  step  accompanying  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  despotism.  To  suppress  them  and  yet 
allow  popular  elections  to  be  held,  amounts  to 
turning  against  the  people  their  own  weapons  of 


THE    FUTURE.  263 

• 

self-defence.  Dr.  Lieber,  from  whom  I  have  already 
quoted,  emphatically  states  that  an  election  con 
ducted  under  such  circumstances  is  absolutely 
valueless  as  an  exponent  of  the  popular  will.  I 
copy  from  his  work  u  On  Civil  Liberty  and  Self- 
Governrnent :" — "  An  election  can  have  no  value 
whatever  if  the  following  conditions  are  not  fulfilled  : 
the  question  must  have  been  fairly  before  the  peo 
ple,  for  a  period  sufficiently  long  to  discuss  the 
matter  thoroughly,  and  under  circumstances  to 
allow  discussion  ....  The  liberty  of  the  press, 

therefore,  is  a  condition  sine  qua  non The 

indecency  as  well  as  the  absurdity  and  immorality 
of  the  government  recommending  what  is  to  be 

voted,  ought  never  to  be  permitted If  any 

one  of  these  conditions  is  omitted,  the  whole  election 
or  voting  is  vitiated." 

Thus  the  direct  result  of  the  exercise  of  the 
arbitrary  power  over  the  citizens  and  the  public 
press,  which  the  President  will  assume  to  wield  for 
an  indefinite  future  time,  if  the  South  shall  be  suc 
cessfully  subjugated,  will  be  to  render  the  elections 
of  executive  officers  and  members  of  the  State 
legislatures  in  the  North,  as  well  as  representatives 
and  senators  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
valueless  as  exponents  of  the  popular  will,  and  to 
produce  an  antagonism  of  interest,  principle,  and 
feeling  between  the  Government  and  the  people. 
How  greatly  that  tendency  will  be  aggravated  by 


264  THE    FUTURE. 

the  passions  to  which  such  a  system  will  give  rise 
in  both  of  the  antagonistic  parties,  and  the  results 
to  which  it  will  lead  in  rendering  it  impossible  for 
the  President  to  surrender  his  power  to  the  people, 
will  be  the  subject  of  particular  consideration  in  the 
next  chapter.  At  present,  my  obje-ct  is  rather  to 
show  the  means  by  which  free  institutions  may  be 
destroyed,  than  the  motives  which  will  lead  to  their 
destruction. 

But  while  I  am  upon  this  'subject,  I  must  not 
overlook  the  fact  that  military  interference  with  the 
exercise  of  the  elective  franchise,  will  not  be  con 
fined  to  the  indirect  suppression  of  the  popular  will 
by  stifling  free  discussion ;  but  it  will  also  be 
employed  actively  and  affirmatively,  by  compelling 
the  election  of  persons  who  will  cooperate  with  the 
administration.  That  feature  of  the  system  under 
discussion  will  also  be  the  subject  of  particular 
illustration  hereafter;  at  present,  I  will  only  allude 
to  it  as  an  experiment  which  has  already  been  suc 
cessfully  tried,  and  of  which  we  can  therefore  con 
fidently  affirm  that  it  will  be  tried  again,  whenever 
and  wherever  it  shall  be  necessary  for  the  adminis 
tration  to  resort  to  such  a  proceeding,  in  order  to 
secure  the  support  of  the  local  officials  or  of  the 
national  Legislature. 

But  the  corruption  and  emasculation  of  the 
Legislature  will  not  stop  here,  if  the  President's 
plan  shall  be  adopted,  and  I  now  come  to  the  fea- 


THE    FUTURE.  265 

tures  of  the  latter,  which  render  it  even  more  dan 
gerous  than  that  of  Mr.  Sumner,  ruinous  and  dis 
organizing  as  the  latter  is  sure  to  prove.  For 
under  Mr.  Simmer's  plan,  all  the  members  of  each 
branch  of  Congress,  even  if  many  of  them  shall  be 
elected  by  minorities,  will  represent  actual  consti 
tuencies  ;  and  it  will  be  impracticable,  or  at  all 
events  very  difficult  to  secure  a  controlling  majority 
in  either  House,  of  men  utterly  destitute  of  personal 
dignity,  independence,  and  a  sense  of  ultimate 
responsibility  for  their  conduct,  even  if  suppres 
sion  of  popular  discussion  and  military  interference 
with  the  elections  shall  attain  its  utmost  possible 
limit.  A  President  aiming  at  the  overthrow  of  his 
country's  liberties,  or  unconsciously  driven  on  to 
that  consummation  by  events  beyond  his  control, 
will  therefore  be  compelled  to  stop  short,  whenever 
he  shall  have  reached  that  point  beyond  which 
neither  intimidation,  corruption,  fanaticism  or  in 
flamed  party-spirit,  will  carry  the  bulk  of  his  sup 
porters.  And  although  the  process  of  disintegration 
of  the  Constitution  is  equally  certain  under  cither 
scheme,  it  will  be  more  gradual  under  Mr.  Sum 
ner' s  plan  than  under  that  of  the  President;  and  if 
the  former  shall  be  adopted,  there  may  be  a  possi 
bility  that  the  fears  or  the  scruples  of  his  followers 
will  arrest  the  Executive  at  some  point  short  of  the 
grand  catastrophe,  and  produce  a  disruption  of  his 
party ;  when  the  people,  by  an  armed  or  a  bloodless 

12 


266  THE    FUTURE. 

revolution,  will  regain  power,  and  by  the  reversal 
of  a  suicidal  policy,  save  their  liberties  from  anni 
hilation,  ere  it  be  too  late. 

But  the  President's  plan,  in  connection  with  the 
power  of  arbitrary  arrests,  will  give  the  Constitution 
a  speedy  and  effective  coup-de-grace.  For  when 
eleven  subjugated  States,  controlled  by  military 
power,  shall  enjoy  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
eleven  of  the  free  and  sovereign  States  which  the 
Constitution  recognizes,  the  Executive  will  be  prac 
tically  free  from  all  personal  responsibility,  and  he 
will  need  but  a  small  auxiliary  body  of  mercenaries 
in  either  House — much  smaller  than  military  regu 
lation  of  elections  and  the  unlimited  means  of  cor 
ruption  in  his  hands  will  enable  him  readily  to 
command — to  place  the  entire  affirmative  action  of 
either  House  of  the  national  Legislature  within  his 
control.  In  the  first  place,  he  will  have,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  fifty-eight  of  his  crea 
tures — men  whose  oath  of  office  requires  them  to  be 
strangers  to  the  people  whom  they  profess  to  repre 
sent,  or  to  have  gone  counter  to  the  whole  course 
of  public  sentiment  and  every  tie  of  neighborhood, 
friendship  or  affection,  at  a  time  when  the  lives, 
liberty  and  property  of  their  supposed  constituents 
were  at  stake — men,  most  of  whom  will  owe  their 
nomination,  their  election,  their  personal  safety, 
and  their  ability  to  keep  a  house  over  their  heads, 
to  the  military  power  which  he  will  control,  and 


THE    FUTURE.  267 

to  the  system  of  which  it  will  constitute  the  sole 
prop  and  support.  This  is  the  number  of  repre 
sentatives  to  which  the  seceding  States  are  entitled 
under  the  last  apportionment,  in  a  full  House  con 
sisting  of  two  hundred  and  forty-one  members,  of 
whom  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  constitute  a 
quorum.  His  power  to  arrest  any  citizen  without 
warrant  or  explanation,  or  review  by  any  tribu 
nal,  will  secure  at  any  critical  period  the  absence 
of  those  representatives  whose  influence  or  whose 
votes  might  endanger  the  success  of  any  scheme 
which  he  might  have  at  heart ;  and  fifty-eight  votes 
lack  only  three  of  being  the  majority  of  a  quorum. 
Terrible  as  it  is  to  contemplate  the  possession  of 
such  a  power  by  the  executive  department  of  the 
Government  over  the  popular  branch  of  the  Legis 
lature,  the  worst  has  not  been  told.  For  the  eleven 
"  reconstructed  "  States  will  send  twenty-two  sena 
tors  to  a  Senate  consisting  of  seventy  members — 
only  fourteen  less  than  a  majority  of  the  whole,  and 
three  more  than  the  majority  of  a  quorum.  And 
in  the  court  of  impeachments,  these  twenty-two 
creatures  of  the  President  will  have  an  absolute 
veto.  They  will  constitute  more  than  one-third  of 
SL  full  and  hostile  Senate  ;  and  the  Constitution  ex 
plicitly  requires  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the 
senators  present  to  warrant  a  conviction. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  President's  ability  to  affect 
the  affirmative  action  of  either  House  by  the  use  of 


268  THE    FUTURE. 

his  absolute  and  uncontrollable  power  of  military 
arrest.  In  truth  this  prerogative  adds  to  the  un 
limited  means  of  corruption  at  his  command,  not 
only  unlimited  means  of  intimidation,  but  unlimited 
power  to  annihilate  every  form  of  constitutional 
check  or  opposition,  whether  it  proceeds  from  the 
State  authorities,  or  the  judiciary,  or  the  legislature 
of  the  nation.  For  there  is  no  tribunal  to  review 
his  acts,  and  no  class  of  citizens,  official  or  unofficial, 
who  are  not  entirely  at  his  mercy.  The  United 
States  judges,  the  representatives  who  impeach,  the 
senators  who  try,  hold  their  liberties,  and  conse 
quently  their  power  to  discharge  their  official 
duties,  entirely  at  his  good  pleasure.  Even  the 
presidential  electors  who  will  choose  his  successor, 
are  completely  at  his  mercy.  Whatever  suspicions 
may  be  excited,  that  he  is  wielding  his  uncontrolled 
power  over  individuals,  so  as  to  establish  an  im 
perial  throne  for  himself,  there  is  no  remedy  but 
submission  or  revolution.  He  can  proceed  step  by 
step  to  grasp  the  reins  of  absolute  power,  WITHOUT 

OVEKSTEPPING    IN    ONE     INSTANCE    HIS    CONSTITUTIONAL 

AUTHORITY.  It  will  be  impossible  at  any  stage  of 
his  career,  until  he  shall  have  reached  the  crown 
ing  catastrophe,  to  place  the  finger  upon  any  one 
of  his  acts  and  say,  this  is  unlawful,  and  it  there 
fore  justifies  resistance. 

By  the  adoption  of  the  policy  of  subjugation,  the 
American  people  will  therefore  deliver  themselves 


THE    FUTURE.  269 

over,  bound  hand  and  foot,  into  the  power  of  the 
individual  who  shall  fill  the  office  of  President. 
They  will  voluntarily  part  with  every  safeguard  of 
their  liberties  ;  they  will  place  the  whole  destiny 
of  the  republic  in  his  hands,  without  check  or 
restraint ;  they  will  grant  him  for  four  years  patron 
age  almost  boundless,  and  unlimited,  imperial,  des 
potic  power  over  every  individual  and  every  political 
institution  in  the  country.  As  security  for  the  dis 
charge  of  this  immense  trust  with  wisdom,  fidelity 
and  integrity,  and  with  a  view  solely  to  promote 
the  common  welfare,  and  for  its  surrender  to  the 
people  at  the  end  of  the  allotted  period,  they  have 
.  .  .  .  what? 

History  says — nothing.  Psychology  says — noth 
ing.  Political  science  says — nothing.  But  those 
who  assume  to  be  wiser  than  history,  psychology, 
or  political  science,  say  that  we  shall  have  abun 
dant  security  in  the  attachment  of  the  people  to 
their  form  of  government  and  in  the  conscience  of 
the  Executive. 

These  prophets  are  the  same,  the  falsification  of 
whose  many  confident  prophecies  during  the  past 
four  years,  is  indicated  by  the  very  condition  of  the 
country  which  gives  rise  to  the  doubt.  But  inas 
much  as  they  still  appear  to  have  credit  with  the 
people,  notwithstanding  their  past  failures,  it  be 
comes  necessary  to  examine  whether  their  present 
opinion  rests  upon  grounds  any  more  solid  than 


270  THE    FUTURE. 

those,  the  falsity  of  which  has  been  so  conclusively 
demonstrated  by  events. 

In  truth,  the  apparent  conviction  of  a  large  part 
of  the  American  people,  that  they  can  safely  pur 
sue  a  career  which  has  never  before  been  pursued 
by  any  other  free  nation  upon  record,  without 
resulting  in  its  ruin,  and  that  the  laws  of  politi 
cal  science,  and  the  experience  of  history  are  to 
be  falsified  in  order  to  preserve  our  liberties, 
is  a  marvel  to  thoughtful  observers  throughout 
the  world.  It  is  only  paralleled  by  a  similar  in 
fatuation  which  prevailed  in  1860,  respecting  the 
preservation  of  the  Union,  and  which  could  not  be 
removed  by  arguments  or  warnings,  or  anything 
but  the  actual  crash  of  the  falling  edifice.  To  com 
bat  the  present  delusion,  when  a  man  has  deliberately 
allowed  it  to  take  possession  of  his  mind,  is  an  im 
possibility ;  for  its  existence  presupposes  the  dis 
credit  of  the  only  sources  from  which  arguments 
against  it  can  be  drawn.  But  many  who  have 
adopted  it  have  done  so  without  reflection,  and  in 
consequence  of  a  hasty  assent  to  the  opinions  of 
others  ;  and  to  a  mind  open  to  conviction,  the  pro 
position  that  liberty  cannot  endure,  even  among 
such  a  people  as  ours,  if  a  large  military  force  shall 
be  maintained  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  one  sec 
tion  of  the  nation  in  subjection  to  the  other,  while 
the  Executive  is  rendered  practically  independent 
of  the  people,  is  as  susceptible  of  a  demonstra- 


THE    FUTURE  271 

tiou   as  complete  as  any  of  the  laws  of  natural 
science. 

The  next  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  a  considera 
tion  of  the  causes  which  will  render  the  attachment 
of  the  people  to  the  republican  form  of  government, 
and  the  conscience  of  the  Executive,  utterly  inef 
ficient  to  prevent  that  destruction  of  constitutional 
liberty,  to  which  irresistible  events  will  impel  any 
President  who  shall  undertake  to  carry  out  the 
policy  of  subjugation.  But  before  concluding  this 
chapter,  I  desire  to  call  the  reader's  attention  to  two 
circumstances,  which  will  greatly  smooth  the  way  for 
such  a  consummation,  by  weakening  that  very  pre 
ference  for  a  popular  form  of  government  which  is 
now  so  universal  among  the  people. 

The  first  of  these  is  even  now  in  partial,  I  may 
say  in  formidable  operation.  I  allude  to  the  cre 
ation  of  a  class  among  the  people,  holding  the  obli 
gations  of  the  Government  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
render  the  payment  even  of  the  interest,  a  very 
onerous  burden  upon  the  masses.  At  present,  while 
the  war  fever  rages  so  high,  and  a  sudden  and 
enormous  expansion  of  the  currency  has  created  a 
fictitious  appearance  of  prosperity  among  the  peo 
ple,  there  is  but  little  difficulty  in  raising  the  neces 
sary  means  to  meet  the  interest  upon  the  public 
debt  with  punctuality,  and  thus  to  create  a  feeling 
of  security  among  its  holders.  And  it  may  be  that 
if  the  current  expenses  of  our  Government  shall  be 


27-'  THE    FUTURE. 

BO  reduced,  before  the  debt  shall  receive  a  very 
formidable  addition  to  its  present  volume,  as  to  con 
stitute,  together  with  the  interest,  an  annual  burden 
upon  the  industry  of  the  people  which  shall  not  be 
too  insupportable,  we  shall  continue  to  be  able  to 
pay  the  latter.  Still  many  reflecting  men  are  even 
now  doubtfully  putting  to  themselves  the  question 
whether,  after  the  excitement  of  the  war  shall  have 
subsided,  and  the  country  shall  be  suffering  from 
that  distress  which  will  inevitably  succeed  the  pre 
sent  apparent  prosperity,  it  will  be  possible  to 
induce  a  people  governed  by  means  of  universal 
sulirage,  voluntarily  to  impose  upon  themselves 
such  fearful  burdens. 

These  men  see  that  whatever  form  of  taxation 
may  be  devised,  its  principal  weight  will  fall 
upon  that  class  of  the  community,  which  receives 
nothing  in  return,  and  which  is  at  once  the  most 
numerous,  and  the  least  affected  by  appeals  to  a 
sense  of  national  honor,  and  by  enlarged  considera 
tions  of  future  welfare  to  proceed  from  immediate 
sacrifices.  They  know  that  it  is  now  accepted  ;•$ 
an  unanswerable  objection  to  the  demands  of  the 
people  of  Great  Britain  for  a  further  extension  of 
the  right  of  suffrage,  that  the  interest  of  the  holders 
of  the  Government  stock,  and  consequently  the 
honor  and  prosperity  of  the  nation,  require  that  the 
elective  franchise  should  continue  to  be  controlled 
by  the  men  of  property.  Tht'y  know  also  that  the 


THE    FUTURE.  273 

history  of  the  northern,  as  well  as  the  southern  sec 
tion  of  the  country,  shows  that  in  such  a  form  of 
government  as  ours,  there  is  a  limit  to  popular 
endurance  of  taxation  in  times  of  scarcity.  Hence 
a  grave  doubt  is  even  now  arising  in  their  minds 
whether  the  time  may  not  come,  when  the  repudi 
ation  of  our  present  national  debt  will  become  a 
political  principle,  which  will  command  the  support 
of  a  majority  of  the  people,  whatever  efforts  may 
be  made  to  lighten  its  annual  burdens  by  a  rigid 
reduction  of  current  expenses  of  the  Government  to 
the  smallest  possible  compass. 

But  whatever  weight  such  apprehensions  may  at 
present  be  entitled  to,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
they  will  address  themselves  with  irresistible  force 
to  the  holders  of  Government  securities,  if  we  shall 
enter  upon  a  career  which  will  involve  the  increase 
of  the  current  expenses  of  the  Government  by  the 
enormous  sums,  which  the  adoption  of  the  policy 
of  subjugation  will  require.  As  I  have  already 
stated,  the  expenses  of  the  military  establishment 
will  alone  be  more  than  double  the  interest  upon  a 
national  debt  of  two  thousand  millions  of  dollars. 
To  these  must  be  added  the  expense  of  a  corres 
pondingly  powerful  navy  and  of  a  swarm  of  office 
holders.  And  it  may  be  affirmed  without  hesitation, 
that  whenever  it  shall  become  apparent  that  Gov 
ernment  cannot  go  on,  without  raising  every  year 
over  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  by  direct  or 

12* 


274  THE    FUTURE. 

indirect  taxation  upon  the  industry  of  the  country, 
all  the  persons  whose  fortunes  are  involved  in  the 
collection  of  such  a  tax,  will  become  either  secret 
or  open  opponents  of  a  system  of  government  which 
places  all  political  power  in  the  non-debthold- 
ing  masses.  Those  persons  constitute  the  wealthy 
classes ;  and  the  direct  operation  of  the  policy  of 
subjugation  will  thus  be  to  render  them  the  allies 
of  the  Government,  in  any  scheme  which  will  have 
the  tendency  to  prevent  power  from  returning  to 
the  hands  of  the  masses  of  the  people.* 

While  a  direct  antagonism  of  interest  is  thus 
being  created  between  the  Government  and  the 
governed,  and  the  rich  and  the  poor,  another  cause 
will  be  in  powerful  operation  to  prepare  the  minds 
of  the  people  to  witness  passively  the  overthrow  of 
popular  institutions.  I  allude  to  the  presence 
among  them  of  an  immense  standing  army,  a  cir 
cumstance  w^hich  will  have  the  direct  effect  to 
blunt  the  popular  sense  to  the  importance  of  free 
institutions,  especially  when  it  is  accompanied  with 
the  constant  interference  of  the  army  in  the  regular 
operation  of  the  laws,  to  which  the  disturbed  con 
dition  of  the  country  and  the  political  necessities  of 
the  Administration  will  give  rise.  I  find  the  opera 
tion  of  this  cause  described  by  Alexander  Hamilton, 
in  the  eighth  number  of  The  Federalists  in  lan^ua^e 

/  O         O 

*  See  Note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


THE    FUTURE.  275 

so  much  more  forcible  than  any  which  I  can  com 
mand,  that  I  will  insert  it  in  place  of  any  observa 
tions  of  my  own : 

"  There  is  a  wide  difference  also  between  military 
establishments  in  a  country,  which  by  its  situation 
is  seldom  exposed  to  invasions,  and  one  which  is 
often  subject  to  them,  and  always  apprehensive  of 
them.  The  rulers  of  the  former  can  have  no  good 
pretext,  even  if  they  are  so  inclined,  to  keep  on 
foot  armies  so  numerous  as  must  of  necessity  be 
maintained  in  the  latter.  These  armies  being,  in 
the  first  instance  rarely,  if  at  all,  called  into  activity 
for  interior  defence,  the  people  are  in  no  danger  of 
being  broken  to  military  subordination.  The  laws 
are  not  accustomed  to  relaxation  in  favor  of  military 
exigencies;  the  civil  state  remains  in  full  vigor; 
neither  corrupted  nor  confounded  with  the  princi 
ples  and  propensities  of  the  other  state But 

in  a  country  where  the  perpetual  menacings  of 
danger  oblige  the  Government  to  be  always  pre 
pared  for  it,  her  armies  must  be  numerous  enough 
for  instant  defence.  The  continual  necessity  for  his 
services  enhances  the  importance  of  the  soldier,  and 
proportionably  degrades  the  condition  of  the  citizen. 
The  military  state  becomes  elevated  above  the  civil. 
The  inhabitants  of  territories  of  the  theatre  of  war 
are  unavoidably  subjected  to  frequent  infringements 
of  their  rights,  which  serve  to  weaken  the  sense  of 
those  rights ;  and  by  degrees  the  people  are  brought 


27()  THE    FUTURE. 

to  consider  the  soldiers  not  only  as  their  protectors, 
but  as  their  superiors.  The  transition  from  this 
disposition  to  that  of  considering  them  as  masters, 
is  neither  very  remote  nor  difficult;  but  it  is 
very  difficult  to  prevail  upon  a  people  under  such 
impressions,  to  make  a  bold  or  eil'ectual  resist 
ance  to  usurpations  supported  by  the  military 
power." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  distinguished  writer 
did  not  contemplate  the  possibility  that  a  large 
army  Would  be  kept  up  in  this  country  to  repress 
our  own  citizens.  I  need  not  say  that  its  employ 
ment  for  that  purpose  would  vastly  increase  the 
evils  and  dangers  which  he  describes.  Considering 
the  centralizing  effect  of  the  proposed  policy  of 
subjugation,  the  destruction  of  the  constitutional 
antagonism  between  the  States  and  the  general 
Government  which  it  involves,  and  the  manner 
in  which  the  laws  are  already  u  accustomed  to 
relaxation  in  favor  of  military  exigencies,"  the 
words  which  I  have  quoted  may  almost  be  called 
a  prophetic  warning  addressed  to  the  men  of 
to-day. 

Having  thus  adverted  to  two  of  the  means  by 
which  the  way  will  be  rendered  smooth  and  easy 
to  the  tread  of  a  usurper,  i  will  now  consider  the 
operation  of  much  more  powerful  causes,  which 
will  irresistibly  impel  even  a  well-meaning  Presi 
dent  and  his  supporters  to  accomplish  the  overthrow 


THE    FUTURE.  277 

of  the  Constitution,  if  the  retention  of  the  southern 
States  in  the  Union  against  the  will  of  their  people 
shall  be  adopted  as  the  permanent  policy  of  our 
Government. 

NOTE. — I  append  a  few  suggestions  which  may  assist  the 
reader  in  determining,  whether  the  holders  of  Government 
securities  will  continue  to  feel  perfect  confidence  in  the 
disposition  of  the  people,  voluntarily  to  impose  upon  them 
selves  the  taxation  which  the  policy  of  subjugation  will  re 
quire.  Table  35,  annexed  to  the  preliminary  report  on  the 
eighth  census,  (1860),  contains  the  valuation  of  all  the 
real  and  personal  property  in  the  United  States.  The 
superintendent  informs  us  that  the  figures  may  be  relied 
upon  as  accurate,  the  marshals  having  been  instructed  to 
add  the  proper  amount  to  the  assessed  valuation,  "  so  that 
the  returns  should  represent  as  well  the  true  or  intrinsic 
value,  as  the  inadequate  sum  generally  attached  to  property 
for  taxation  purposes."  The  table  foots  up  at  $16,159,- 
616,048.  The  value  of  the  slaves  in  the  southern  States 
is  of  course  included  in  this  computation,  and  if  they  are  all 
to  be  freed,  so  much  productive  and  taxable  property  will 
be  stricken  out  of  existence.  I  have  not  the  necessary 
data  to  enable  me  to  determine  how  much  must  be  de 
ducted  from  the  sum  total  for  this  item,  as  the  table  gives 
only  the  gross  value  of  property  m  each  State,  being  $5,- 
202,166,107  for  the  seceding  States,  and  $10,957,449,961 
for  the  others.  A  very  large  portion  of  the  property  in 
the  seceding  States  (besides  the  slaves)  has  been,  and  more 
will  be,  destroyed  in  the  course  of  the  war.  The  productive 
capacity  of  both  sections  has  been,  and  will  continue  to 
be,  greatly  diminished  by  the  fearful  losses  of  life,  limbs, 
and  health  among  the  producers  ;  and  the  negroes,  even 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  will  not  produce 
any  more  as  freemen  than  they  produced  as  slaves.  The 
extent  to  which  the  ability  of  the  country  to  pay  taxes  has 


278  THE    FUTURE. 

been  lessened  by  the  operation  of  these  causes,  can  only 
be  conjectured  ;  we  may  be  sure  however  that  it  is  very 
considerable. 

The  amount  of  the  annual  expenditure  of  the  Govern 
ment,  under  the  subjugation  policy,  can  only  be  estimated 
approximately  ;  but  it  is  believed  that  we  shall  be  safe  in 
assuming  it  to  be,  at  the  very  lowest  calculation,  $216,- 
000,000  for  the  Army,  (300,000  men);  $100,000,000  (live 
pur  cent,  upon  $2,000,000,000),  for  the  interest  on  the  debt ; 
$50,000,000  for  the  navy,  (estimate  for  1864-5,  $142,- 
618,785),  and  $50,000,000  for  the  civil  service,  pensions, 
Indians,  and  miscellaneous  items,  (estimate  for  same  year, 
$47,604,498).  These  figures  foot  up  at  $416,000,000, 
being  about  two  and  a  half  per  centum  per  annum  on  the 
whole  taxable  property  of  the  country,  as  it  existed  before 
the  war  broke  out,  including  slaves.  To  this  is  to  be  added 
the  local  taxation,  swollen  in  the  loyal  States  to  an  enor 
mous  bulk  by  the  bounties  and  other  expenses  of  the  war — 
the  two  together  probably  exceeding  at  the  North,  Jive  per 
centum  per  annum  upon  the  actual  value  of  all  the  property 
in  the  country ;  or  if  the  same  ratio  of  valuation  prevails 
elsewhere,  as  in  the  rural  districts  of  New  York,  about 
fifteen  per  centum  per  annum  upon  the  assessed  valuation. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  estimates  the  probable 
receipts,  under  existing  laws,  for  the  next  fiscal  year  (ex 
clusive  of  loans)  as  follows  : 

From  customs,  $  70,000,000. 

From  internal  revenue,         -  -       125,000,000. 
From  lands,     -  1,000,000. 

From  miscellaneous  sources,  -  5,000,000. 


$201,000,000. 

So  that  our  present  rate  of  federal  taxation,  onerous  as  it 
is,  must  be  more  than  doubled.  Possibly  a  legislature,  elect 
ed  by  universal  suffrage,  will  continue  to  pass  the  necessary 
laws  to  compel  the  people  to  pay  such  sums  of  money,  in  a 


THE    FUTURE.  279 

period  of  distress  and  scarcity,  as  well  as  of  plenty  ;  but  I 
am  very  confident  that  the  time  will  come,  when  holders  of 
Government  securities  will  fancy  (upon  grounds  either 
solid  or  insufficient),  that  their  interest  requires  that  the 
masses  of  the  people  shall  no  longer  enjoy  the  power,  to  de-, 
cide  this  question  for  themselves. 

In  considering  these  figures,  and  following  out  the  train 
of  reflections  to  which  they  give  rise,  two  grave  questions, 
and  the  consequences  to  which  affirmative  answers  will  lead, 
also  force  themselves  upon  the  mind.  Will  not  national 
bankruptcy  overtake  us  before  we  have  completed  the  sub 
jugation  of  the  South  ?  or,  if  we  can  sustain  our  national 
credit  so  long,  can  even  a  military  government  continue  for 
any  length  of  time  to  collect  such  fearful  taxes  from  the 
people  ?  1  suggest  these  questions  for  the  reader's  reflec 
tion  ;  they  have  not  escaped  my  attention  ;  but  this  work 
was  written  with  a  specific  object,  and  its  plan  precludes  me 
from  discussing  them.  I  have  assumed  for  the  sake  of  the 
argument,  that  our  arms  would  ultimately  triumph  ;  and  I 
have  attempted  to  point  out  the  consequences  to  which  suc 
cessful  subjugation  would  lead.  But  in  doing  so  I  have 
arrested  the  discussion  at  the  point  where  popular  liberty 
falls. 


280  THE    FUTURE. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

The  Danger  to  Popular  Institutions  from  Party  Spirit  was  over 
looked  by  the  Authors  of  The  Federalist — The  Honesty  and 
Patriotism  of  the  present  Executive  and  his  Party  conceded — 
But  their  Political  Training  menaces  Public  Liberty  with  Destruc 
tion — The  Dangerous  Tendency  of  the  Doctrine  that  Rulers  must 
be  Unconditionally  Supported,  pending  a  Great  National  Crisis — 
Causes  of  the  excessive  Party  Spirit  which  has  hitherto  raged — 
Alarming  Results  which  it  has  already  produced— Further  Ex 
cesses  which  it  threatens  during  the  state  of  Civil  Commotion 
which  will  follow  the  Military  Repression  of  the  South — They  will 
render  the  Preservation  of  Popular  Liberty  impossible— The 
situation  of  the  President  and  his  Necessities— Inefficiency  of  the 
restraining  Power  of  Conscience  over  a  Ruler  so  situated— The 
manner  in  which  the  Constitution  will  probably  be  overthrown 
and  the  Pretexts  by  which  its  Overthrow  will  be  justified — Viru- 
lency  of  Party  Spirit  during  Washington's  Administration — His 
Warning  to  his  Fellow-countrymen  against  its  Effects  —His  Warn 
ing  against  Usurpation — Results  of  the  Teachings  of  all  the 
Writers  upon  the  Constitution — Incidents  of  the  Marvland  Elec 
tion  of  November,  1863. 

HAVING  thus  shown  in  what  manner  the  policy 
of  subjugation,  in  combination  with  the  political 
principles  and  administrative  practices  involved 
in  its  adoption,  will  enable  the  Executive  to  accom 
plish  the  ruin  of  public  liberty  ;  and  having  also 
explained  how  two  causes  will  operate,  the  one  to 
create  a  powerful  class  disposed  to  sustain  him  in 


THE    FUTURE.  281 

an  attempt  to  accomplish  that  result,  the  other  to 
prepare  the  popular  mind  to  acquiesce  in  its  suc 
cess  ;  I  will  now  proceed  to  consider  what  in 
fluences  will  reconcile  the  President's  conscience 
to  the  commission  of  such  an  act,  and  overcome, 
in  the  minds  of  his  supporters,  their  attachment 
to  the  principles  which  underlie  our  existing  sys 
tem  of  government.  And  the  causes  which  will 
produce  such  a  result  may  be  all  comprehended 
in  one  brief  sentence — they  are  the  effects  of  excessive 
party  spirit. 

The  authors  of  The  Federalist,  far-seeing  and 
sagacious  as  they  proved  themselves  to  be  in  other 
respects,  had  evidently  no  adequate  conception  of 
the  extent  and  violence  which  party  spirit  is  capa 
ble  of  attaining,  in  a  country  in  which  the  whole 
policy  of  the  Government,  and  the  enjoyment  of  all 
the  sweets  of  power  in  an  immense  empire,  depend 
upon  the  direct  result  of  popular  suffrage.  In 
truth,  the  political  and  social  condition  of  our  an 
cestors  was  such  that  party  spirit,  although  it 
gave  rise  to  numerous  cabals,  follies,  and  crimes, 
during  the  Revolution,  could  not  have  full  scope  to 
display  itself  in  all  its  deformity,  until  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  relieved  it  from  the  trammels 
which  had  previously  restrained  its  action,  and 
afforded  it  an  ample  field  for  the  display  of  its 
vices.  For  this  reason,  the  argument  of  The  Fede 
ralist^  relative  to  the  perpetuity  of  our  system,  of 


282  THE    FUTURE. 

government,  admirable  as  it  is  in  all  other  respects, 
contains  a  fatal  flaw.  It  assumes  that  the  principal 
danger  to  public  liberty  would  proceed  from  the 
corruption,  or  the  unprincipled  ambition  of  rulers, 
acting  in  antagonism  to  the  mass  of  the  people;  and 
having  succeeded  in  demonstrating  that  those 
crimes  would  be  ineffectual  to  deprive  a  people, 
living  under  such  a  government  as  it  was  proposed 
to  establish,  of  liberties  which  they  should  unite  to 
defend,  the  distinguished  authors  supposed  that 
they  had  exhausted  the  argument.  As  we  have 
already  seen,  from  the  copious  extracts  which  I 
have  made  from  their  work,  while  they  were  con 
sidering  the  danger  of  the  overthrow  of  the  State 
governments  and  of  popular  liberty,  through  the 
encroachments  and  usurpations  of  the  general 
Government,  they  overlooked  the  possibility  of  the 
existence  of  a  political  party  in  the  States  them 
selves,  acting  in  harmony  with  those  who  were 
administering  the  general  Government,  to  the  ulti 
mate  destruction  of  the  power  and  sovereignty  of 
the  States,  and  of  the  liberties  of  the  people.  But 
time  has  revealed  the  existence  of  this  flaw  in  the 
panoply  of  the  Constitution,  and  through  it  popu 
lar  institutions  are  even  now  receiving  the  death- 
stroke.  Unless  we  shall  at  once  arrest  the  hand 
which  is  dealing  the  fatal  blows,  we  may  expect  with 
entire  confidence  to  witness  at  an  early  day  their 
utter  overthrow  and  destruction. 


THE    FUTURE.  283 

I  am  far  from  charging  upon  the  present  Execu 
tive,  or  his  leading  supporters,  and  still  less  upon 
the  masses  of  their  followers,  any  deliberate  design 
to  effect  such  a  consummation.  I  frankly  admit 
that  they  are  as  patriotic  as  men  can  be,  whose 
first  and  principal  thought  is  at  all  times  in  what 
manner  to  promote  the  ascendency  of  their  party. 
I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  they  believe  that 
the  subjugation  policy  is  consistent  with  the  pre 
servation  of  the  forms  and  the  substance  of  popu 
lar  government,  as  firmly  and  sincerely  as  they 
believed  in  1860,  that  their  success  was  consistent 
with  the  permanence  of  the  Union,  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  Constitution  intact,  and  a  continuation 
of  the  peace  and  prosperity  which  the  country  then 
enjoyed.  I  will  go  further  ;  I  will  say  with  entire 
candor,  that  they  believe  that  if  the  President  of 
their  choice  shall,  at  any  future  time  lay  violent 
hands  upon  the  Constitution,  they  will  themselves 
at  once  resist  his  unlawful  attempt,  pass  into  the 
ranks  of  the  opposition,  and  if  necessary,  raise  the 
standard  of  revolt.*  But  historical  experience  of 

*  As  these  pages  are  passing  through  the  press,  ray  at 
tention  has  been  attracted  by  a  portion  of  the  debate  in 
the  Senate  on  the  28th  of  January,  1864,  upon  the  reso 
lution  of  Senator  Wilson  to  expel  Senator  Davis,  of  Ken 
tucky,  for  introducing  resolutions,  intended,  it  was  alleged, 
to  excite  the  people  of  the  North  to  revolt  : — 

"  Mr.  Howard  (Adm.,  Mich.)  expressed  his  dissent  from 
the  views  of  Mr.  Fessenden  yesterday.  He  never  could 


284:  THE    FUTURE. 

the  conduct  of  men  similarly  situated — nay,  their 
own  history  during  the  last  three  years — proves 
conclusively  that  they  will  gradually  adapt  their 
own  consciences  to  the  real  or  fancied  necessities 
of  the  political  complications  that  will  from  time 
to  time  arise,  till  a  complete  revolution  has  gone 
on  in  their  own  minds,  and  they  are  ready  to 
accept  as  wise,  beneficent,  and  patriotic,  princi 
ples  and  practices  the  bare  suggestion  of  which 
would  now  shock  their  convictions  of  right  and 
duty. 

conceive  it  his  duty  as  a  senator,  to  call  upon  the  people, 
under  any  conceivable  circumstances  to  rise  in  insurrec 
tion.  When  any  senator  rises  in  his  seat  here  and  invokes 
the  people  to  resort  to  insurrectionary  measures,  he  is  act 
ing  contrary  to  his  oath. 

Mr.  Fessenden  (Adm.,  Me.)  asked  what  was  to  be  done 
if  the  Executive  was  trying  to  break  up  the  Government. 
Must  we  not  save  the  Constitution  and  the  Government  ? 

Mr.  Howard  could  not  conceive  of  such  a  case.  The 
President  himself  would  become  a  traitor,  and  deserve  a 
traitor's  doom.  He  would  not  shield  the  Executive.  He 
held  it  right  to  express  his  opinion  upon  every  act,  though 
they  were  acts  sufficient  to  impeach.  But  when  the  ques 
tion  arises  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  Executive,  we  must  use 
our  proper  judicial  functions. 

Mr.  Fessenden  said,  '  Suppose  the  President  had  a  large 
army  at  his  back.  What  would  the  senator  do  then  ?' 

Mr.  Howard  said  he  would  become  a  rebel.  He  would 
fight  him  as  sharply  as  the  senator  from  Maine." 

I  doubt  not  the  sincerity  of  both  these  gentlemen,  but 
as  Shakspeare  says,  "  use  can  almost  change  the  stamp 
of  nature." 


THE    FUTURE.  285 

In  truth,  the  political  training  of  the  administra 
tion  party,  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  is  as 
admirably  calculated  to  adapt  them  for  acquiescing, 
if  not  actively  participating  in  the  downfall  of  pub 
lic  liberty,  as  the  political  training  of  the  southern 
people  was  to  adapt  them  to  the  purposes  of  the 
secessionists.  For  even  those  among  them  (and  I 
know  that  there  are  many)  who  have  condemned 
the  facility  with  which  the  provisions  of  the  Con 
stitution  have  been  set  aside,  and  have  regretted 
the  existence  of  the  rancorous  spirit  that  the  more 
unscrupulous,  fanatical  or  thoughtless  of  their  fel 
low-partisans  have  exhibited  towards  their  politi 
cal  opponents,  have  also  deprecated  the  public 
criticism  of  any  act  of  those  in  power,  however 
decided  their  own  opinions  may  have  been  re 
specting  its  injustice,  inexpediency,  and  unconsti- 
tutionality.  They  have  contended  that  all  such 
discussions  should  be  discountenanced  pending  the 
war ;  that  the  exercise,  no  matter  with  what  inten 
tions,  of  the  right  of  individuals  to  criticise  and  con 
demn  the  conduct  of  rulers,  must  necessarily  have 
a  factious  effect ;  that  at  a  great  national  crisis  like 
the  present,  those  who  are  charged  with  the  duty 
of  carrying  on  the  war  should  receive  the  unhesitat 
ing  and  unconditional  support  of  all  loyal  citizens, 
whatever  folly  or  even  wickedness  they  might  com 
mit  ;  and  that  retribution  for  such  offences  should  be 
exacted,  if  at  all,  only  after  peace  shall  have  been 


2S6  THE    FUTURE. 

restored  to  the  country.  I  have  never  been  satis 
fied  with  the  wisdom  of  this  reasoning,  however 
great  may  have  been  my  respect  for  the  motives 
of  those  who  have  adopted  it.  But  whatever 
weight  may  have  been  due  to  it  in  the  past,  I  have 
now  to  consider  its  practical  operation  in  the 
future.  As  I  remarked  before,  respecting  the  Pre 
sident's  assumption  of  arbitrary  military  power  over 
the  citizen,  it  is  evident  that  whatever  is  lawful, 
right,  and  expedient  while  war  is  raging,  is  lawful, 
right,  and  expedient  until  a  complete  pacification 
has  been  effected.  And  therefore  those  rnen  who 
have  deemed  it  necessary  in  the  past,  tacitly  to  sub 
mit  to  whatever  the  Executive  has  thought  proper 
to  do,  and  to  continue  to  sustain  him  with  their 
voices  and  their  votes,  will  deem  it  necessary  to  do 
the  same  in  the  future,  at  least  until  he  shall  openly 
avow  a  design  permanently  to  subvert  popular 
liberty,  or  shall  pursue  a  course  of  conduct  which 
leaves  no  room  to  doubt  that  such  is  his  intention. 
But  I  do  not  suppose  that  any  Executive  will  com 
mit  the  inconceivable  folly  of  avowing  such  a 
design,  or  of  acting  so  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  its 
existence,  until  it  is  too  late  to  dispossess  him  with 
out  a  civil  war  in  which  he  will  have  all  the  advan 
tage.  It  will  be  totally  unnecessary  for  him  to  do 
so ;  for  he  can  act  for  several  years  so  as  to  consoli 
date  his  power,  with  a  view  to  its  perpetuation, 
without  resorting  to  any  measures  which  have 


THE    FUTUKE.  287 

not  already  been  resorted  to  during  the  war,  and 
the  lawfulness  of  which  will  be  established  by  his 
election,  so  far  as  it  can  be  established  without 
judicial  sanction.  And  I  have  not  supposed  that  the 
Executive  will  at  the  outset  deliberately  plan  the 
subversion  of  the  Constitution,  and  shape  his  course 
so  as  to  carry  out  such  a  design.  My  theory  has 
rather  been  that  he  would  commence  his  career 
towards  absolutism  from  praiseworthy  motives,  and 
in  ignorance  of  its  necessary  termination  ;  and  that 
in  his  eagerness  to  carry  out  a  policy  which  he  re 
gards  as  essential  to  the  interest  of  the  nation,  and 
to  prevent  the  ascendency  of  opponents,  from 
whose  action  he  apprehends  embarrassment  to 
himself,  or  national  disgrace  or  injury,  he  will  be 
led  on  step  by  step,  to  measures,  from  which  at 
first  he  would  have  recoiled,  till  he  has  gone  so  far 
that  the  way  of  retreat  is  closed  behind  him.  That 
meanwhile  his  conscience  will  adapt  itself  to  the 
shifting  exigencies  of  the  case,  and  to  the  advice  of 
counsellors,  some  of  them  corrupt,  and  others  doubt 
less  misled  in  the  same  way  as  their  chief;  and  that 
the  same  process  will  go  on  to  a  greater  or  loss  ex 
tent,  with  the  great  bulk  of  his  followers.  To  borrow 
the  language  of  one  of  the  keenest  observers  of 
human  nature,  himself  a  distinguished  statesman 
(Sir  E.  Bulwer  Lytton),  "  Among  the  marvels  of 
psychology,  certainly  not  the  least  astonishing  is 
that  facility  with  which  the  conscience,  being  really 


288  THE  FUTURE. 

sincere  in  its  desire  of  right,  accommodates  itself  to 
the  impulse  which  urges  it  to  go  wrong."  And 
Lord  Macaulay  conveys  the  same  idea  in  words 
Btill  more  appropriate  to  the  present  subject :  "  In 
revolutions  men  live  fast ;  the  experience  of  years 
is  crowded  into  hours ;  old  habits  of  thought  and 
action  are  violently  broken ;  novelties  which  at 
first  sight  inspire  dread  arid  disgust,  become  in  a 
few  days,  familiar,  endurable,  attractive."  My 
reader  needs  only  to  refer  to  his  own  experience 
during  the  last  two  or  three  years  to  acknowledge 
the  correctness  of  these  words.  Let  me  ask  him 
whether,  starting  from  our  present  standpoint,  the 
practical  abolition  of  the  system  of  popular  govern 
ment,  would  require  a  revolution  of  the  thoughts 
and  actions  of  men,  more  striking  than  that  which 
has  actually  occurred  since  the  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war  ? 

But  in  considering  the  process  which  will  pro 
bably  go  on  in  the  minds  of  the  supporters  of  the 
next  administration,  if  it  shall  be  one  committed  to 
the  policy  which  I  have  discussed,  I  must  look 
beyond  that  class  from  which  the  greatest  amount 
of  opposition  to  the  destruction  of  the  Constitution 
may  be  anticipated.  I  mean  the  men  whose  mo 
tives  are  above  suspicion,  whose  intelligence  is  at 
least  above  the  average,  and  whose  political  con 
victions  are  moderate  and  untinged  with  fanaticism. 
They  constitute,  I  am  glad  to  believe,  a  con- 


THE    FUTURE. 


eiderable  proportion  of  the  present  administration 
party ;  but  in  that,  as  well  as  in  the  other  party, 
they  are  largely  outnumbered  by  the  herd  of  mere 
partisans.  These  consist  in  all  political  organiza 
tions,  partly  of  men  who  are  actuated  by  a  purely 
selfish  desire  of  personal  profit  or  advancement 
through  party  triumph  ;  partly  of  fanatics,  TV  ho  are 
blind  to  every  consideration  except  the  gratifica 
tion  of  their  fanaticism  ;  and  partly  of  that  much 
larger  class,  composed  of  men  sufficiently  honest 
and  well-meaning,  but  who  have  not  the  intelli 
gence  or  education  to  form  opinions  of  their  own, 
and  therefore  adopt  those  of  others.  And  what 
ever  hesitation  may  show  itself  from  time  to 
time  in  individuals,  the  experience  of  the  past 
two  years  shows  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  mere 
partisans  will  be  ready  to  sustain  the  President  of 
their  choice,  in  any  measure  which  tends  to  prevent 
the  opposition  from  coming  into  power,  even  if  the 
Constitution  itself  should  receive  a  mortal  wound 
from  the  thrust  aimed  at  their  political  antago 
nists. 

I  will  endeavor  to  point  out  the  causes  that 
have  led  to  party-spirit  reaching  its  present  alarm 
ing  development,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  has 
manifested  itself ;  and  I  think  that  the  result  of  our 
examination  will  show  that  the  very  political  edu 
cation  of  the  citizens  of  this  country,  that  appa 
rently  protected  our  institutions  against  those  dan- 

13 


290  THE    FUTURE. 

gers  whicli  have  overthrown  those  of  other  free 
nations,  has  been  warped  by  recent  events  so  as  to 
menace  their  destruction.  For  while  many  other 
republics  have  lost  their  liberties  through  excessive 
popular  idolatry  of  an  ambitious  individual,  our 
training  has  been  such  that  the  popularity  of  an  in 
dividual  among  us  could  never  equal  the  popularity 
of  a  principle.  That  fact  formed  a  conclusive  an 
swer  to  those  who  feared  the  overthrow  of  the  Con 
stitution  from  the  energetic  and  indomitable  will  of 
President  Jackson,  combined  with  the  personal 
idolatry  with  which  he  inspired  his  partisans. 
Apart  from  his  incapacity  to  entertain  any  idea  of 
personal  aggrandisement,  at  the  expense  of  the 
liberties  of  his  country,  the  frame  of  the  popular 
mind  and  the  tenets  of  his  party  were  such.,  that 
General  Jackson's  first  unequivocal  attack  upon  the 
principles  of  constitutional  liberty  would  have  cost 
him  the  whole  of  that  popularity,  which  alone  ren 
dered  him  dangerous.  But  exactly  the  reverse  of 
that  state  of  things  now  exists  with  the  administra 
tion  party.  They  are  not  actuated  by  devotion  to 
any  individual ;  so  far  from  that,  their  present 
leader,  until  recent  events  gave  him  a  sudden  popu 
larity,  probably  inspired  less  personal  attachment 
than  any  of  his  elected  predecessors,  except  perhaps 
the  last  incumbent  of  the  presidential  office.  But 
the  course  of  public  events  has  been  such,  as  to 
jeopardize  the  continued  maintenance  of  an  insti- 


THE    FUTURE.  291 

tution,  for  which  every  American  has  been  taught 
in   childhood  to  cherish  an  almost  fanatical  affec 
tion — the  unity  of  the  nation.     It  is  alleged  by  all 
of  the  opposition  that  this  jeopardy  is  clue  in  a  great 
degree  to  the  tenets  and  conduct  of  the  administra 
tion  and  its  party ;  in  other  words  that  the  Repub- 
licans  are  themselves  measurably  the  authors  of  the 
calamities   under   which   the    nation    is   suffering. 
Some  of  the  opposition  also  contend  that  the  preser 
vation  of  national  unity  has  now  become   incom 
patible  with  the  further  existence  of  still  more  im 
portant  constitutional  principles.     The  consequence 
is,  as  would  be  natural  under  such  circumstances, 
that  the  attachment  of  the  Republicans  to  the  Union, 
and  their  determination  to  maintain  its  ascendency, 
have  increased  with  the  dangers  to  which  it  is  ex 
posed,  and  which  they  are  accused  of  having  caused. 
In  itself  this  disposition,  so  far  from  being  censura 
ble,  is  praiseworthy ;  but  in  politics,  as  in   religion, 
and  even  in  science,  devotion  to  a  sound  and  benefi 
cent  principle  may  lead  to  such  excesses,  as  to  make 
it  the  instrument  of  mischiefs  even  greater  than  those 
which  would  result  from  its  converse,  however  un 
sound   and  pernicious  the  latter  might  be.     That 
such  will  be  the  case  in  this  instance  is  the  danger  to 
be  dreaded.     For  the  rebellion  has  intensified  into 
fury  and  hatred  the  passions  and  prejudices  against 
the  southern  people,  to  the  existence  of  which  the 
Republicans  owed  their  own  success,  and  many,  I 


292  THE    FUTURE. 

think  most  of  them,  have  allowed  such  feelings  to 
become  so  completely  incorporated  in  their  own 
minds  with  their  affection  for  the  Union,  that  they 
are  unable  to  distinguish  the  operations  of  the  latter 
from  those  of  the  former.  In  this  way  they  have 
persuaded  themselves  that  those  emotions  are 
emanations  of  patriotism,  which  are  in  reality  only 
emanations  of  angry  passions  ;  and  they  confound 
their  thirst  for  revenge  upon  their  enemies  with 
zeal  for  the  cause  of  their  country.  This  leads  them 
to  regard  an  attack  upon  the  expediency  or  law 
fulness  of  any  measure  which  may  have  the  imme 
diate  effect  of  injuring  the  enemy,  as  an  attack  upon 
the  cause  of  the  nation,  and  to  regard  the  opponent 
of  the  former  as  the  enemy  of  the  latter;  and  thus 
they  transfer  to  their  own  fellow-citizens,  who  have 
the  same  object  in  view  with  themselves,  but  differ 
with  them  respecting  the  means  of  attaining  it,  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  hatred  which  they  bear 
to  the  enemy.  The  consequence  has  been  that 
men  of  northern  birth  and  northern  education  ; 
whose  patriotism  and  integrity  do  not  admit  of  a 
question  ;  who  have  not  a  dollar  cf  interest  in  the 
South  ;  whose  future  social,  political,  and  pecuniary 
prosperity  or  adversity,  depends  upon  the  prosperity 
or  adversity  of  the  North  ;  who  have  liberally  spent, 
and  are  still  liberally  spending,  their  own  blood  and 
treasure  to  assist  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war  ;  who 
have  not  a  friend  or  even  an  acquaintance  south  of 


THE    FUTURE.  293 

the  Potomac  outside  of  the  national  armies,  have 
found  themselves  daily  charged  in  the  public  press 
and  upon  the  rostrum,  with  the  crime  of  treason, 
and  the  charge  accompanied  with  every  insulting 
epithet  which  malignant  passion  can  devise.  And 
this  style  of  political  warfare  has  not  been  a  mere 
partisan  trick,  confined  to  the  low  and  irresponsible 
instruments  of  faction  :  for  thousands,  yes,  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  kind,  sensible,  and  reasonable  men, 
have  persuaded  themselves  that  the  opposition  party 
is  in  league  with  the  South,  to  accomplish,  by  means 
of  the  blackest  of  crimes,  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  irrespective  of  the  consequences  of  such  an 
act  to  that  section  of  the  country,  in  which  all  their 
own  hopes  and  interests,  present  and  future,  are  cen 
tered.  And  men  high  in  office,  even  among  the 
highest,  have  been  weak  enough  or  base  enough  to 
countenance  such  an  opinion ;  to  encourage  the 
spirit  which  inspires  it ;  and  to  enter  into  an  ignoble 
rivalry  with  the  most  vulgar  instruments  of  faction 
in  a  search  for  foul  epithets,  with  which  to  accom 
pany  the  foul  accusation,  that  citizens,  eminent  for 
virtue,  patriotism,  and  public  services,  are  guilty  of 
crimes  too  base  for  any  but  the  most  degraded  out 
casts  of  society.  Even  the  President  is  not  guilt 
less  of  having  encouraged  this  spirit ;  for  although 
he  has  hitherto  exhibited  a  respect  for  his  own  char 
acter  and  the  dignity  of  his  office,  which  has  pre 
vented  him  from  disgracing  himself  and  the  nation, 


294  THE    FUTURE. 

by  a  scurrility  in  which  many  of  his  nearest  and  most 
confidential  civil  and  military  advisers  have  indulg 
ed,  he  has  suffered  the  latter  openly  to  administer 
their  respective  departments  in  accordance  with  the 
theory  that  the  difference  between  the  opposition 
and  the  insurgents  is  only  technical,*  a  theory 
which  he  has  himself  publicly  countenanced  on 
several  occasions,  though  in  language  more  decorous 
than  that  employed  by  his  subordinates.. 

These  invectives  have  produced  their  natural  re 
sult  in  arousing  a  bitter  and  revengeful  feeling  on 
the  part  of  the  opposition ;  and  the  two  great  politi 
cal  parties  are  no  longer  composed  of  citizens  differ 
ing  from  each  other  in  their  views  of  public  policy, 
but  conceding  to  each  other  equal  patriotism  and 
equal  sincerity.  Party  spirit  has  assumed  on  both 
sides  a  character  of  personal  rancor,  which  leads 

*  One  instance,  among  thousands,  will  suffice  to  show 
that  this  observation  is  not  exaggerated  :  I  copy  it  below  : 

"  WAR  DKPARTMKNT, 
SPKCIAL  ORDERS,  No.  19.  ADJUTANT-GKNKRAL'S  OFFICB, 

(Extract.)  Washington,  March  13,  1863. 

"  By  direction  of  the  President,  the  following  officers  are 
hereby  dismissed  from  the  service  of  the  United  States  : 
Lieutenant  A.  J.  Edgerly,  4th  New  Hampshire  Volunteers, 
for  circulating  '  copperhead  tickets'  and  doing  alt  in  his 
power  to  promote  the  success  of  the  rebel  cause  in  his  State. 
****** 

"  By  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

"L.  THOMAS,  Adjutant-General. 
"  To  the  Governor  of  New  Hampshire." 


THE    FUTURE.  295 

men  to  distrust  and  hate  their  political  opponents, 
as  their  own  personal  enemies  and  the  enemies  of 
their  common  country.  To  such  an  extent  has 
this  spirit  developed  itself,  that  it  is  but  yesterday 
that  heated  partisans,  high  in  office,  high  in  the 
favor  of  the  President,  were  clamoring  for  the  blood 
of  their  political  antagonists,  amid  the  frantic  ap 
plause  of  most  of  their  adherents  and  the  passive 
regret  of  a  few.  And  it  is  at  this  time,  when  the  pub 
lic  mind  is  in  the  precise  state  of  all  others  most  dan 
gerous  to  the  permanency  of  the  Constitution,  even 
if  the  original  integrity  of  all  its  barriers  against 
the  excesses  of  party  and  of  power  was  preserved, 
that  it  is  proposed  to  govern  one  half  of  the  nation 
by  military  force ;  and  to  place  for  an  indefinite 
period  in  the  hands  of  a  partisan  leader,  entertain 
ing  such  notions  of  public  policy  and  such  opinions 
of  his  political  opponents,  the  command  of  an  army 
of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  men,  and 
that  vast,  overshadowing,  irresponsible  power,  the 
extent  of  which  I  have  described. 

I  have  already  hinted  at  the  nature  of  the  politi 
cal  warfare  which  the  opposition  would  be  sure  to 
wage,  upon  an  administration  pursuing  the  policy  of 
holding  the  southern  States  in  subjection  by  the 
armed  hand.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  fiercely 
as  party  spirit  now  rages,  such  a  state  of  things 
would  be  certain  to  inflame  it  still  further;  and 
that  the  opposition,  if  unrepressed,  would  assail  the 


296  THE    FUTURE. 

administration  and  its  policy  with  a  bitterness  of  in 
vective  and  vehemence  of  denunciation,  even  ex 
ceeding  those  which  have,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
President,  rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  employ 
his  extraordinary  military  authority  for  their  partial 
repression.  But  invectives  and  denunciations,  how 
ever  violent,  do  not  at  the  present  time  affect  any 
hostile  population ;  they  are  addressed  exclusively 
to  our  own  people ;  and  their  most  injurious  ten 
dency  Cdii  only  be  to  affect  negatively  the  power  of 
the  Government,  by  producing  alienation  of  feeling 
towards  it,  on  the  part  of  those  who  acknowledge  its 
lawful  title  to  their  allegiance,  and  have  never  yet 
entertained  the  idea  of  open  rebellion  against  it. 
But  as  soon  as  the  system  of  subjugation  is  in  full 
operation,  there  will  be  the  same  reason  for  pre 
venting  the  public  discussion  of  its  policy  and  effects 
throughout  the  South,  which  there  has  been  for 
years  for  preventing  the  public  discussion  in  the 
same  region  of  the  policy  and  effects  of  the  system 
of  slavery ;  and  as  it  will  be  impossible  to  close  the 
avenues  of  communication  between  the  two  sections, 
the  denunciatory  speeches  and  newspapers  will  be 
scattered  among  a  conquered  people  in  that  condition 
of  discontent  and  q  uasi-rebellion  which  I  have  already 
described.  Even  moderate  criticisms  upon  the  ad 
ministration,  under  such  circumstances,  would  be  sus 
ceptible  of  construction  as  instigation*  and  encourage 
ments  to  revolt,  and  even  unprejudiced  men  would 


THE    FUTURE.  29T 

doubt  whether  it  was  possible  to  preserve  order  or 
administer  the  functions  of  government  in  the  con 
quered  States,  while  full  liberty  of  discussion  was 
allowed  the  presses  and  speakers  of  the  North.  That 
heated  partisans  holding  the  reins  of  absolute  power, 
and  unchecked,  as  they  have  been  since  the  existence 
of  that  power  was  discovered,  by  the  near  approach 
of  another  Presidential  election,  would  not  hesitate 
under  such  circumstances  to  inaugurate  a  system  of 
severe  repression,  there  cannot  be  a  doubt;  and  they 
will  be,  as  they  have  been,  enthusiastically  supported 
in  so  doing  by  the  most  violent  of  their  owrn  party, 
while  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience  will  pre 
vent  the  more  moderate  from  remonstrating. 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  dangerous  ten 
dency  of  such  a  state  of  things,  even  if  it  was  con 
ceded  that  the  only  excesses  to  which  it  would  lead, 
would  be  the  injudicious  and  oppressive  exercise  of 
the  lawful  powers  of  the  Government ;  but  it  must 
be  also  remembered  that  those  who  will  thus  feel 
the  heavy  hand  of  power,  in  the  North  as  well  as 
the  South,  will  regard  their  injuries  as  proceeding 
from  a  lawless  and  criminal  usurpation.  For 
although  I  have  waived  all  discussion  of  the  argu 
ments  by  which  the  President  sustains  his  assump 
tion  of  transcendent  power  over  the  citizen,  in  time 
of  invasion  or  insurrection,  yet  the  existence  of 
such  a  power  is  not  only  doubted  by  large  numbers 
of  his  supporters,  but  is  vehemently  denied  by  the 
13* 


298  THE    FUTURE. 

opposition.  The  latter  look  upon  every  act  of  its 
exercise  [is  a  usurpation ;  a  forcible  prostration  of 
the  law  before  military  power  ;  a  high-handed  and 
outrageous  invasion  of  individual  right,  for  which 
redress  will  be  exacted  whenever  the  civil  law 
resumes  its  sway  in  the  land.*  And  I  may  also 
remark  that  although  this  question  properly  be 
longs  to  the  courts  of  justice,  it  is,  in  all  its  aspects, 
purely  political ;  that  is  to  say,  the  principles  upon 
which  its  decision  will  be  predicated  are  political, 
not  legal.  The  accession  to  power  of  the  party 
which  denies  the  existence  of  any  such  authority, 
therefore  involves  their  ability  to  procure  a  legal 
adjudication  against  its  existence;  and  the  conse 
quent  exposure  of  every  officer  of  the  Government, 
who  shall  have  been  concerned  in  exercising  it,  to 
civil  and  criminal  proceedings,  ruinous  to  his  for 
tune,  and  menacing  even  his  personal  liberty. 
Already  a  grave  question  is  presented  whether  the 

*  I  will  remark  here  that  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  under  the  act  of  Congress  of  March  3,  1863, 
does  not  affect  the  question  of  the  legality  of  the  exercise 
of  the  power  claimed  by  the  President.  It  merely  takes 
away  the  most  expeditious  and  summary  remedy  for  test 
ing  the  question.  Whether  such  a  power  really  exists  or 
not,  is,  in  the  absence  of  the  remedy  by  habeas  corpus,  to 
be  determined  in  civil  or  criminal  prosecutions  at  the  in 
stance  of  those  who  have  suffered  by  its  exercise.  These 
may  be  instituted  at  any  time  before  the  expiration  of  the 
period  prescribed  by  the  statute  of  limitation  applicable  to 
the  case. 


THE    FUTURE.  299 

personal  safety  and  pecuniary  interests  of  the  present 
incumbents  of  public  office,  will  allow  the  restoration 
to  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice,  of  the  ability  to 
adjudicate  upon  the  legality  of  the  arrests  and  ban 
ishments  which  have  already  taken  place,  and  the 
constitutionality  of  the  law  depriving  the  State 
courts  of  jurisdiction  to  entertain  such  questions, 
and  fixing  a  limitation  to  actions  founded  upon 
them  ;  and  it  is  to  these  as  well  as  other  considera 
tions,  that  we  owe  the  proposition  to  introduce  into 
the  Supreme  Court  new  judges,  whose  political 
tenets  will  afford  an  unerring  clue  to  their  judicial 
action,  in  sufficient  numbers  to  create  a  majority 
of  the  court.  But  such  a  measure,  should  it  be 
adopted,  will  allay  only  temporarily  the  alarm  of 
those  who  apprehend  danger  from  an  unbiassed 
decision  ;  for  they  will  remember  that  the  same  pro 
cess  can  be  repeated  with  a  directly  contrary  result, 
when  the  mutations  of  popular  opinion  shall  trans 
fer  the  political  power  to  their  opponents.  When 
ever  the  system  of  repression  shall  have  proceeded 
to  the  extremities,  which  I  apprehend  from  its  un 
checked  continuance  during  another  presidential 
term,  the  only  method  by  which  the  incumbents  of 
public  office  can  feel  themselves  entirely  safe,  will 
be  the  retention  of  power  in  their  own  hands,  by 
whatever  means  that  object  may  be  accomplished. 
It  is  hardly  possible  however  that  the  exposure 
to  damages  in  civil  actions,  or  !o  fines  and  imprison- 


300  THE    FUTURE. 


ment  in  criminal  proceedings,  will  be  the  only  con 
sequence  which  those  in  authority  will  apprehend 
from  the  success  of  their  opponents.     The  measures 
to  which  they  will  resort,  in  order  to  preserve  their 
power  or  to  carry  out  their  policy,  will  result,  as 
such  measures  have  in  all  times  resulted,  in  aggra 
vating   the    evils   which    they    were    intended"  to 
remedy.     They  will  increase  the  fury  and  audacity 
of  those  who  will  be  subjected  to  them  ;  measures 
of  greater  severity  will  soon  follow;  and  the  catas 
trophe  from  which  we  have  already  had  such   a 
narrow  escape  will  ultimately  fall   upon   us.     We 
shall  see  the  blood  of  American  citizens  spilled,  for 
indulging  in  that  freedom  of  speech  and  political 
action,  which  we  have  been  taught  from  childhood 
to  consider  as  our  national  birthright.    The  question 
will    then   pass,   if    it   shall   not   have   previously 
passed,  far  beyond  the  dominion  of  politics  or  of 
j  urisprudence.    The  contest  will  then  be  no  longer  for 
office  or  for  the  ascendency  of  political  principles  ; 
passion  will  be  aroused  on  one  side  and  the  other 
to  an  extent  of  which  our  past  history  affords  no 
example  ;  and  a  desperate  struggle  will  commence, 
in  which  one  party  will  seek  for  revenge,  and  the 
other  the  preservation  of  their  own  lives  from  their 
infuriated  enemies. 

But  even  if  its  effects  should  stop  short  of  this 
point,  the  system  of  subjugation  of  the  South  and 
repression  at  the  North,  will  divide  the  people  into 


THE    FUTURE.  301 

impassioned  advocates  of  popular  rights  on  the  one 
hand,  and  impassioned  advocates  of  the  preroga 
tives  of  power  on  the  other.  It  will  array  these 
two  parties  into  irreconcilable  antagonism  and  hos 
tility  to  each  other.  It  will  lead  to  such  a  series  of 
injuries  inflicted  by  the  one  upon  the  other,  and 
generate  such  an  intensity  of  passion,  that  defeat  in 
the  contest  for  political  ascendency  will  involve  the 
ruin  of  the  President  and  his  leading  supporters. 
Can  it  be  supposed  that  such  an  autocrat  as  I  have 
described ;  possessing  the  power  to  perpetuate  his 
authority  ;  surrounded  by  counsellors  and  accom 
plices  whose  stake  in  the  result  equals  his  own; 
supported  by  a  powerful  party  whose  passions  are 
aroused  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  by  an  army  of 
overwhelming  numbers ;  believing  that  he  and  his 
associates  are  the  only  friends  of  the  country,  will 
allow  such  a  contest  to  take  place  at  the  polls  of  a 
free  and  fair  popular  election  ?  Will  he  not  remember 
that  law  of  political  science,  as  unerring  in  its  appli 
cation  as  the  law  of  gravitation,  which  renders  it  cer 
tain  that  under  any  form  of  government,  the  oppo 
sition  will  in  time  become  the  majority  of  the 
people  ?  Will  he  overlook  its  equally  inevitable  co 
rollary,  that  the  use  of  violent  means  by  a  govern 
ment  to  suppress  the  expression  of  popular  feeling, 
hastens  the  arrival  of  that  period?  Alas  for  the 
country  whose  liberties  are  held  by  such  a  tenure 
as  the  conscience  of  a  man  thus  situated  !  Lord 


302  THE    FUTURE. 

Macaulay  well  says,  that  "  men  who  have  once  en 
gaged  in  a  wicked  and  perilous  enterprise  are  no 
longer  their  own  masters,  and  are  often  impelled 
by  a  fatality,  which  is  part  of  their  just  punishment, 
to  crimes  such  as  they  would  have  shuddered  to 
contemplate."  The  law  of  self-preservation ;  the 
necessities  of  his  anxious  associates;  the  principles 
for  which  he  has  risked  so  much,  will  impel  him 
irresistibly  onwards  in  a  road  which  presents  no 
turning-point.  I  will  not  attempt  to  point  out  the 
mode  in  which  the  destruction  of  the  Constitution 
will  be  effected.  It  suffices  for  me  to  exhibit  to 
my  readers  the  victim  delivered  over  to  the  execu 
tioners,  bound  hand  and  foot  for  the  slaughter, 
without  speculating  as  to  the  instruments  which 
will  be  used  to  accomplish  the  work ;  the  places 
where  the  mortal  wounds  will  be  inflicted;  or  the 
extent  of  the  convulsive  struggles  which  will  fol 
low.  But  the  past  affords  us  data  which  enable  us 
to  conjecture  how  the  overt! irow  of  our  liberties 
will  commence,  and  at  the  same  time  remove  any 
doubt  from  our  minds,  respecting  the  adaptability 
to  the  purposes  of  a  usurper,  of  an  army  officered 
by  his  instruments.  No  doubt  the  title  of  Presi 
dent,  and  the  nominal  cooperation  of  a  legislature, 
perhaps  also  the  formality  of  popular  elections,  will 
for  a  time  be  preserved ;  but  we  have  seen  within 
a  few  months  in  what  manner  unscrupulous  parti 
sans,  wielding  unchecked  military  power,  can  ren- 


THE    FUTURE.  303 

der  a  popular  election  a  mere  machine  for  the 
registry  of  a  military  edict.  We  have  seen  military 
orders  issued  for  the  express  purpose  of  warning 
from  the  polls  those  electors  who  were  unwilling  to 
vote  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  their  mili 
tary  masters  ;  we  have  seen  soldiers  stationed  at 
the  polls  to  prescribe  the  ticket  to  be  voted,  to  in 
terrogate,  threaten,  and  arrest  those  who  offered 
any  other  ;  we  have  seen  obnoxious  candidates  and 
judges  of  election  who  hesitated  to  obey  the  unlaw 
ful  orders  of  military  tyrants,  insulted,  maltreated, 
and  imprisoned  ;  we  have  seen  such  acts  enthusias 
tically  applauded  by  frantic  partisans,  as  the  bold 
and  energetic  measures  of  rulers  who  would  not 
allow  the  cause  of  the  Union  to  suffer  from  tender 
adherence  to  formalities  ;  we  have  seen  men  elected 
by  such  means  sitting  unmolested  in  a  House  of 
Representatives,  blinded  by  its  partisanship  to  the 
insult  to  its  own  dignity,  which  their  presence  in 
volves,  and  to  the  ruinous  consequences  of  the  pre 
cedent  which  has  thus  been  established.*  We  can 
therefore  conjecture  in  what  manner  the  early 
stages  of  the  usurpation  will  be  accomplished — in 
fact  they  have  already  been  accomplished.  With 
a  Constitution  daily  crumbling  away,  as  the  plea  of 
necessity  saps  its  foundations ;  with  every  citizen's 

*  For  u  detailed  account  of  some  of  the  incidents  which 
attended  the  congressional  elections  of  1863,  in  Maryland, 
see  note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


304  THE    FUTURE. 

life  and  liberty  at  the  mercy  of  the  Executive  ;  with 
the  laws  insulted,  despised  and  disregarded  at  the  will 
of  petty  military  commanders  ;  with  our  legislature 
composed  in  part  of  nominees  of  military  officers 
imposed  upon  the  electors  by  violence,  it  is  only 
because  we  have  yet  the  means  to  redress  our  own 
grievances  that  we  can  properly  be  styled  a  free 
people.  The  struggle  which  we  are  about  to  enter 
upon  is  not  so  much  to  preserve  our  liberties  as  it 
is  to  regain  them.  The  question  is  not  whether  we 
shall  establish  a  despotism  upon  the  ruins  of  popu 
lar  liberty,  but  whether  we  shall  permit  a  partial 
despotism  to  become  total,  a  temporary  despotism 
to  become  permanent.  Every  day  that  the  present 
system  endures  increases  the  difficulties  of  abandon 
ing  it ;  and  soon  its  abandonment  will  become 
impossible.  The  result  to  which  it  will  lead  is  in 
evitable,  and  when  the  time  comes  that  the  final 
catastrophe  can  no  longer  be  deferred,  there  will  be 
no  lack  of  pretexts,  plausible  enough  to  satisfy  the 
usurper's  conscience  and  the  consciences  of  his  par 
tisans.  Possibly  the  standard  of  revolt  will  be  un 
successfully  raised  in  the  early  stages  of  the  usur 
pation,  and  thus  facilitate  its  subsequent  steps. 
Possibly  it  will  be  said,  as  it  has  already  been  said 
to  justify  similar  acts,  that  the  absence  of  the 
u  loyal  soldiers  "  from  the  polls  prevents  the  result 
of  the  elections  from  being  a  true  exponent  of  the 
popular  wishes ;  that  u  disloyal "  men  have  no 


THE    FUTURE.  305 

moral  right  to  vote  under  a  government  which  they 
oppose ;  or  that  the  all-absorbing  necessity  of  pre 
serving  the  Union  overrides  all  other  considera 
tions;  possibly  it  will  be  discovered  that  the  pro 
visions  for  periodical  elections  and  limited  terms 
of  office  are,  like  the  equally  explicit  provisions 
protecting  the  life  and  liberty  of  the  citizen,  inap 
plicable  to  a  state  of  public  danger.  The  history 
of  the  world  is  full  of  proofs  of  the  facility  with 
which  the  ruler  of  a  free  people  can  find  an  excuse 
for  the  overthrow  of  its  liberty,  when  power  and 
inclination  combine  to  induce  him  to  make  the 
attempt,  and  of  the  large  train  of  followers  which 
he  can  at  once  command,  if  his  attempt  shall  be 
successful. 

I  purposely  refrain  from  pursuing  the  subject  fur 
ther.  It  is  too  soon  to  form  anything  beyond  a 
conjecture  as  to  the  events  which  would  succeed 
such  a  usurpation.  We  can  only  say,  that  so  far 
no  jSTapoleon,  no  Cromwell,  has  arisen  among  us ; 
and  the  history  of  our  sister  republic  of  Mexico 
affords  us  some  indications  of  the  fate  of  a  country 
in  which  petty  usurpers  overthrow  a  government, 
and  raise  a  storm  which  they  cannot  rule. 

Before  I  conclude  this  chapter,  I  wish  to  present 
to  the  reader  an  extract  from  the  writings  of  a  man 
whose  foresight  and  sagacity  equalled  his  purity, 
and  whose  purity  has  never  yet  been  equalled  by 
any  public  man  of  his  nation.  It  needs  only  to  add 


306  THE  FUTURE. 

that  he  was  an  American,  and  the  reader  will  at 
once  recognize  to  whom  I  refer. 

I  have  said  that  our  forefathers  had  comparatively 
little  experience  of  the  effects  of  party  spirit,  while  the 
Federal  Government  was  administered  by  the  Con 
gress  of  the  Confederation,  and  while  the  nation  was 
insignificant  in  population,  and  yet  suffering  from 
the  effects  of  the  hardships  of  the  Revolution. 
But  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  altered 
condition  of  our  internal  affairs  which  succeeded, 
gave  that  spirit  an  ample  field  of  action.  Even  the 
purity  of  character  and  the  distinguished  services 
of  Washington  did  not  avail  to  shield  him  from  its 
effects.  His  controversy  with  Genet,  the  treaty  of 
1795  with  Great  Britain,  and  the  "  whiskey  insur 
rection"  in  Pennsylvania,  were  successively  occa 
sions  of  attacks  upon  his  character  as  well  as  his 
policy,  which  wrung  his  great  and  patriotic  heart. 
To  such  lengths  did  the  virulence  of  party  passion 
lead  the  people,  whose  independence  was  due  in 
so  great  a  degree  to  his  wisdom  and  his  virtues, 
that  he  was  menaced  with  the  fate  of  Louis  XVI.  ;* 
that  his  impeachment  was  publicly  called  for  ;  that 
"  it  was  averred  that  he  was  totally  destitute  of 
merit,,  either  as  a  soldier  or  a  statesman,"  and  that 
he  was  charged  with  having  plundered  the  public 
treasury  for  his  private  emolument,  f  Even  the 

*  Irving's  Washington,  vol.  v.,  p.  166. 
f  Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  ii.,  p.  370. 


THE    FUTURE.  307 

equanimity  which  was  such  a  conspicuous  trait  of 
his  character  gave  way  under  such  provocation. 
He  repeatedly  expressed  his  regret  at  having  ac 
cepted  the  Presidency.  He  declared,  in  the  bitter 
ness  of  his  spirit,  that  "  he  had  rather  be  in  his  grave 
than  in  his  present  situation  ;"  and  he  asserted  that 
such  "  is  the  turbulence  of  human  passions  in  party 
disputes,  where  victory  more  than  truth,  is  the  palm 
contended  for,  that  the  post  of  honor  is  a  private 
station."  And  when  his  approaching  retirement 
into  private  life  had  assuaged  the  fierceness  of  the 
envenomed  attacks  to  which  he  had  been  subjected, 
and  disposed  all  his  fellow-countrymen  to  acknow 
ledge  the  wisdom  and  perfect  rectitude  of  his  con 
duct  during  his  presidency,  he  left  upon  record,  in 
his  farewell  address,  this  solemn  warning  against  the 

'  O        O 

spirit  of  party,  from  his  experience  of  which  he  fore 
saw  a  danger  to  the  liberties  of  his  country,  greater 
than  any  that  could  proceed  from  the  ambition  or 
corruption  of  its  rulers. 

u  I  have  already  intimated  to  you  the  danger  of 
parties  in  the  State,  with  particular  reference  to  the 
founding  of  them  upon  geographical  discrimina 
tions.  Let  me  now  take  a  more  comprehensive 
view,  and  warn  you  in  the  most  solemn  manner 
against  the  baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of  party 
generally. 

"This  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from 
our  nature,  having  its  root  in  the  strongest  pas- 


308  THE  FUTURE. 

sions  of  the  human  mind.  It  exists,  under  different 
shapes,  in  all  governments,  more  or  less  stifled,  con 
trolled,  or  repressed  ;  but  in  those  of  the  popular 
form  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and  is  truly 
their  worst  enemy. 

"  The  ultimate  domination  of  one  faction  over 
another,  sharpened  by  the  spirit  of  revenge,  natural 
to  party  dissensions,  which  in  different  ages  and 
countries  has  perpetrated  the  most  horrid  enormi 
ties,  is  in  itself  a  frightful  despotism.  But  this 
leads  at  length  to  a  more  formal  and  permanent 
despotism.  The  disorders  and  miseries  which  re 
sult  gradually  incline  the  minds  of  men  to  seek 
security  and  repose  in  the  absolute  power  of  an 
individual ;  and,  sooner  or  later,  the  chief  of  some 
prevailing  faction,  more  able  or  more  fortunate  than 
his  competitors,  turns  this  disposition  to  the  pur 
poses  of  his  own  elevation,  on  the  ruins  qf  public 
liberty." 

Startling  as  is  the  adaptation  of  these  words 
to  the  present  condition  of  the  country,  they  do 
not  constitute  the  only  warning  contained  in  the 
farewell  address,  against  the  follies  and  errors 
of  the  policy  which  I  have  discussed  at  such 
length.  For  Washington  does  not  confine  himself 
with  pointing  out  the  passion  that  will  predis 
pose  the  nation  to  the  overthrow  of  its  liberties; 
he  indicates  as  the  very  method  by  which  the 
catastrophe  will  be  effected,  the  destruction,  ~by 


THE    FUTURE.  309 

usurpation,  of  the  checks  established  by  the  Consti 
tution.     I  copy : 

u  The  necessity  of  reciprocal  checks  in  the  exer 
cise  of  political  power,  by  dividing  and  distributing 
it  into  different  depositaries,  and  constituting  each 
the  guardian  of  the  public  weal  against  invasions 
by  the  others,  has  been  evinced  by  experiments, 
ancient  and  modern,  some  of  them  in  our  country, 
and  under  our  own  eyes.  To  preserve  them  must 
be  as  necessary  as  to  institute  them.  If,  in  the  opi 
nion  of  the  people,  the  distribution  or  modification 
of  the  constitutional  powers  be  in  any  particular 
wrong,  let  it  be  corrected  by  an  amendment  in  the 
way  which  the  Constitution  designates.  BUT  LET 

THERE    BE    NO    CHANGE     BY    USURPATION  ;     for    though 

this  in  one  instance  may  be  the  instrument  of  good, 

IT  IS  THE  CUSTOMARY  WEAPON  BY  WHICH  FREE  GOVERN 
MENTS    ARE    DESTROYED." 

It  has  been  my  aim  in  this  chapter  to  enforce 
these  emphatic  prophecies  ;  to  show  that  Washing 
ton  did  not  read  amiss  the  signs  of  the  times ;  to 
satisfy  my  reader  that  his  earnest  and  affectionate 
appeal  was  something  more  than  a  mere  nourish 
of  rhetoric.  I  have  elsewhere  cited  the  language 
of  Plamilton  and  of  Madison  ;  and  I  could  have 
filled  this  volume  with  quotations  to  the  same 
effect  from  a  long  roll  of  statesmen,  philosophers, 
jurists,  publicists,  and  historians,  who  have  dis 
cussed  the  theory  of  our  political  system,  and  the 


310  THE    FUTURE. 

various  provisions  of  tlie  Constitution.  They  all 
concur  in  their  conclusions.  They  teach  us  that 
a  large  debt,  and  a  large  national  expenditure, 
create  a  class  of  citizens  inimical  to  popular  in 
stitutions  ;  and  we  have  now  a  debt  counted  by 
thousands  of  millions,  and  we  propose  to  adopt 
a  future  policy  which  will  require  an  annual  ex 
penditure  of  four  hundred  millions.  They  teach 
us  that  an  uncontrolled  and  irresponsible  executive 
will  ultimately  convert  himself  into  a  despot ;  and 
we  propose  to  make  our  President  an  unchecked 
autocrat.  They  teach  us  that  a  large  standing  army 
is  the  instrument  by  which  executive  power  strikes 
down  free  institutions ;  and  we  propose  to  keep  up 
a  standing  army  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mil 
lion  of  soldiers.  They  teach  us  that  the  in 
dependent  sovereignty  of  the  States  is  the  great 
guaranty  of  the  perpetuity  of  our  Constitution  ;  and 
we  propose  to  convert  the  States  into  mere  bureaux 
of  the  central  power.  They  teach  us  that  the 
spirit  of  party  creates  a  usurper,  and  furnishes 
him  with  his  instruments ;  and  we  propose  to 
arouse  party  spirit  till  the  two  political  parties 
shall  be  ready  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  each  other's 
blood. 

Why  so  much  incredulity  as  to  a  result  so  clear 
ly  predicted  ?  Why  this  confidence  that  there  is  no 
danger?  Why  this  blind  refusal  to  believe  those 
who  have  so  often  warned  us  of  the  precipice  at 


THE   TUTURE. 


the  end  of  the  road  down  which  we  are  so  madly 
rushing  ? 

For  one,  I  cannot  share  the  pleasing  anticipations 
of  those  who  believe  that  the  Constitution  can  survive 
the  proposed  experiment  ;  I  cannot  allow  my  ap 
prehensions  to  be  soothed  by  the  assurances  of 
optimists  —  the  eager  votaries  of  philanthrophical 
theories  of  government,  panting  with  the  excite 
ment  of  a  civil  war  which  is  yet  raging,  whose 
advent  they  derided  with  confident  predictions 
that  have  scarcely  died  upon  my  ears.  I  prefer 
to  rest  my  faith  upon  the  teachings  of  the  great  and 
good  men  who  framed  the  Constitution  ;  of  their 
successors  who  administered  the  government  under 
it,  in  times  favorable  for  the  exercise  of  calm  rea 
son  and  the  attainment  of  sound  judgment  ;  of  the 
publicists  and  political  economists  throughout  the 
world,  who  have  carefully  studied  the  science  of 
government  ;  and  of  the  historians  who  have  re 
corded  the  rise,  progress,  and  fall  of  the  republics 
which  preceded  ours.  I  can  therefore  anticipate 
nothing  but  the  total  overthrow  of  the  Constitution, 
and  the  extinction  of  the  bright  hopes,  which  in 
this  and  other  countries,  have  clustered  around  the 
American  experiment  of  self-government,  from  any 
attempt  to  marry  military  rule  to  free  institutions  ; 
under  whatever  name  the  monstrous  alliance  may 
be  disguised,  or  with  whatever  specious  pretext  of 


312  THE    FUTURE. 

philanthropy,  or  commercial  or  political  ascendency, 
it  may  be  commended  to  our  favor. 

NOTE. — The  following  account  of  some  of  the  incidents 
which  attended  the  Congressional  elections  held  in  Mary 
land  in  November,  1863,  is  copied  from  the  newspaper 
press.  It  is,  of  course,  not  impossible  that  some  of  the  de 
tails  may  be  exaggerated,  but  the  general  accuracy  of 
the  narration  is  vouched  for  in  the  recent  annual  message 
of  Governor  Bradford  of  that  State,  and  confirmed  by 
documentary  proof  submitted  by  him  to  the  Legislature. 

Correspondence*)/  the  "New  York  Tribune" 

A  Provost-Marshal  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  Kent 
County,  issued  an  absurd  order  in  regard  to  tho  election,  in 
which  they  undertook  to  designate  who  were  loyal  citizens, 
by  saying  that  only  those  could  be  so  considered  who  voted 
for  the  Government  candidates,  and  then  arrested  and  sent 
to  Baltimore  the  entire  Copperhead  candidates  on  the  coun 
ty  ticket.  These  unhappy  gentlemen  arrived  in  Baltimore 
the  night  before  the  election. 

Correspondence  of  the  Washington  ll  National  Intelligencer? 

Mr.  Arthur  Crisfield  advanced  between  the  file  of  sol 
diers  to  the  judges'  desk  and  offered  his  vote  ;  Capt. 
Moore,  who  was  standing  by  the  desk  immediately  fronting 
the  judges,  challenged  his  vote  and  inquired  his  name. 
The  reply  was,  "  Arthur  Crisfield." 

Capt.  Moore,  pulling  a  paper  from  his  pocket  examined 
it,  and  proceeded  to  interrogate  Mr.  A.  Crisfield,  in  sub 
stance  as  follows  : 

Capt.  Moore. — "  Have  you  ever  been  in  the  rebel  ser 
vice  ? " 

Mr.  A.  Crisfield.—"  No." 

Capt.  Moore. — "  Are  you  loyal  ? " 


THE    FUTURE.  813 

Mr.  A.  Crisfield.— "  I  am." 

Captain  Moore. — "Have  you  ever  sympathized  with 
those  in  rebellion  against  the  Government  ?" 

Mr.  A.  Crisfield. — "  I  have  never  given  aid,  assistance 
or  encouragement  to  the  South." 

Capt.  Moore. — "  Do  you  acknowledge  this  to  be  a 
rebellion  against  the  Government  ?" 

Mr.  A.  Crisfield. — "  I  acknowledge  this." 

Capt.  Moore. — "  Are  you  in  favor  of  prosecuting  the 
war  to  put  down  the  rebellion  by  every  means,  and  of 
voting  men  and  money  for  this  purpose,  and  that  all  your 
property  may  be  devoted  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war  ?" 

Mr.  A.  Crisfield. — "  Define  the  means." 

Capt.  Moore. — "  By  blockade,  cutting  off  supplies  from 
the  South,  and  by  every  means  known  in  civilized  war 
fare  ?" 

Mr.  A.  Crisfield. — "  I  think  the  Government  has  the 
right  to  prosecute  the  war  by  all  the  means  recognized  by 
international  law  and  civilized  warfare,  within  the  limits  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  country." 

Capt.  Moore. — "  Are  you  in  favor  of  prosecuting  the 
war  by  EVERY  MEANS  ?" 

Mr.  Crisfield  was  repeating  the  same  reply  as  that  to 
the  former  question,  when  Capt.  Moore  turned  to  the 
judges  and  said,  "administer  the  oath  to  him." 

Mr.  Pinto,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  election,  then  rose 
and  said  :  "  We  disapprove  of  this  mode  of  conducting  the 
election.  We  should  never  get  through.  We  are  sworn 
to  conduct  the  election  according  to  the  laws  of  Maryland: 
and  if  we  are  not  permitted  to  do  so,  we  submit  to 
arrest." 

Capt.  Moore. — "You  refuse  then  to  carry  out  the  order 
of  Gen.  Schenck  ?" 

Mr.  Pinto. — "  We  decide  to  obey  the  proclamation  of 
the  Governor  and  the  order  of  the  President." 

Capt.  Moore  then  arrested  the  judges,  and  said,  "  the 
arrest  is  for  refusing  to  obey  the  order  of  Gen.  Schenck." 

15 


314:  THE    FUTURE. 

The  judges  then  said  the  flection  was  closed,  and  Capt. 
Moore  required  them  to  report  themselves  to  him  under 
arrest  at  Twilley's  hotel,  which  they  promised  to  do.  Capt. 
Moore  informed  them  they  were  to  be  taken  to  the  city  of 
Baltimore. 

This  statement  is  certified  to  be  true  by  the  judges  of  the 
election  (who  add  that  they  were  carried  under  a  military 
guard  to  Salisbury,  and  then  placed  in  the  guard-house), 
and  also  by  a  large  number  of  prominent  citizens. 

The  sergeant  in  command  at  Potato  Neck  district,  in 
the  same  county  mentioned  above,  stated  to  the  judges  of 
election  that  he  had  received  orders  to  enforce  the  Order 
No.  53  ;  to  challenge  every  voter  ;  to  examine  all  tickets 
offered ;  to  administer  the  oath  contained  in  the  Order  No. 
53,  and  to  decline  to  allow  any  tickets  but  the  yellow  or 
Creswell  tickets  to  be  polled.  That  after  the  proclamation 
was  received  at  camp,  he  was  ordered  to  enforce  Order 
No.  53,  as  it  had  been  modified  by  the  President  ;  to 
administer  the  oath  ;  to  challenge  every  man  who  offered 
to  vote,  and  to  prevent  all  from  voting  who  presented  any 
but  the  yellow  or  Creswell  ticket  ;  that  he  would  examine 
every  ticket,  and  that  if  there  should  be  a  disturbance, 
soldiers  enough  could  easily  be  got  to  wipe  all  out  who 
attempted  it.  A  very  small  vote  was  polled,  the  mass  of 
the  people  being  deterred  from  coming  out  by  fear  of  the 
soldiers,  who  were  reported  to  have  received  orders  to 
arrest  all  who  voted  for  Mr.  Crisfield. 

In  Barren  Creek,  the  sergeant  in  command  pulled  out 
of  his  pocket  a  yellow  or  Creswell  ticket,  and  said,  "This 
is  the  only  ticket  that  shall  be  voted  to-day."  The  window 
was  guarded,  and  all  were  ejected  who  would  not  vote  the 
yellow  ticket. 

At  Chestertown,  the  Lieut.-Col.  commanding,  stated  in 
a  printed  order  : 

"  It  becomes  every  true  loyal  citizen  to  avail  himself  of 


THE    FUTURE.  315 

the  present  opportunity  offered,  to  place  himself  honorably 
upon  the  record,  by  giving  a  full  and  ardent  support  to  the 
whole  Government  ticket,  upon  the  platform  adopted  by 
the  Union  League  Convention.  None  other  is  recognized 
by  the  Federal  authorities  as  loyal  or  worthy  of  the  support 
of  any  one  who  desires  the  peace  and  restoration  of  this 
Union." 


Mr.  Hamilton,  in  the  sixtieth  number  of  The  Federalist, 
speaking  of  the  apprehension  that  the  power  confided  to 
the  Union  to  regulate  its  own  elections  might  be  abused, 
among  other  things,  "  in  such  a  manner  as  to  promote  the 
election  of  some  favorite  class  of  men  in  exclusion  of 
others,"  says,  "  of  all  chimerical  suppositions,  this  seems 
the  most  chimerical.  On  the  one  hand  no  rational  calcu 
lation  of  probabilities  would  lead  us  to  imagine  that  the 
disposition,  which  a  conduct  so  violent  and  extraordinary 
would  imply,  could  ever  find  its  way  into  the  national 
councils  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  concluded  with 
certainty,  that  if  so  improper  a  spirit  should  ever  gain 
admittance  into  them,  it  would  display  itself  in  a  form 
altogether  different  and  far  more  decisive.  The  improba 
bility  of  the  attempt  may  be  satisfactorily  inferred  from 
the  single  reflection,  that  it  could  never  be  made  without 
causing  an  immediate  revolt  of  the  great  body  of  the  peo 
ple,  headed  and  directed  by  the  State  governments." 

But  Mr.  Hamilton,  as  I  have  already  stated,  had  no 
adequate  experience  of  the  lengths  to  which  rulers  will  go, 
and  of  the  usurpations  which  the  governed  will  not  only 
tolerate  but  applaud,  under  the  influence  of  party-spirit. 


316  THE    FUTURE. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Suggestions  as  to  the  Possibility  of  restoring  the  Union  without 
destroying  Public  Liberty — The  most  important  Object  to  be  ac 
complished  is  to  impress  upon  the  Public  Mind  a  correct  under 
standing  of  the  Conditions  of  the  Problem — Also  to  modify  the 
Spirit  with  which  the  War  has  been  carried  on— There  will  be  no 
difficulty  in  framing  a  plan  when  those  Objects  have  been  attained 
— Reasons  for  believing  in  the  existence  of  a  Disposition  at  the 
South  to  return  to  the  Union  upon  honorable  Terms — The  Utility 
of  a  further  prosecution  of  the  War  discussed — Purposes  for 
which  it  should  be  prosecuted — The  Effect  of  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  should  be  left  to  Judicial  Decision — The  political 
Power  of  Slavery  is  at  an  end — Urgent  Necessity  of  Remodelling 
the  Constitution — Reasons  why  the  holding  of  a  National  Con 
vention  at  an  early  day  is  indispensable,  irrespective  of  its  Influ 
ence  in  promoting  the  Restoration  of  the  Union — But  such  a 
Convention  can  be  and  should  be  made  a  Powerful  Instrument  to 
hasten  the  end  of  the  War — Reforms  which  it  should  accomplish 

Effect  of  those  Reforms  upon  the  Pacification  and  Prosperity  of 

the  Country,  and  the  Future  Permanence  of  the  Union, 

Is  it  then  impossible  to  preserve  at  the  same  time 
the  Union  and  popular  government ;  or  must  the 
American  people  resign  themselves  to  the  hard  ne 
cessity,  of  consenting  to  the  destruction  of  one  or  the 
other  of  those  cherished  institutions?  I  feel  reluc 
tant  to  leave  the  reader  who  has  patiently  followed 
me  so  far,  as  long  as  it  is  possible  that  any  sugges 
tions  which  I  can  make,  will  aid  him  in  any  degree 


THE    FUTURE.  317 

in  the  solution  of  this  grand  and  absorbing  question  ; 
and  yet  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have  already  gone 
over  the  ground  so  fully,  that  I  can  add  but  little  to 
the  observations  contained  in  the  preceding  pages, 
with  any  useful  or  satisfactory  result. 

I  have  fully  laid  down  the  principles  applicable 
to  our  civil  war,  which  distinguish  right  from 
wrong — the  enforcement  of  constitutional  jurisdic 
tion  from  usurpation  of  the  prerogatives  of  a  con 
queror.  I  have  endeavored  to  portray  the  con 
sequences  which  will  ensue  from  an  attempt  to 
overstep  the  clear  and  distinct  boundary  line,  which 
separates  the  one  from  the  other.  I  have  indicated 
in  what  manner,  if  we  would  preserve  our  national 
greatness  and  prosperity — nay,  our  existence  as  a 
free  people — the  exercise  of  indisputable  powers 
must  be  controlled  and  regulated  by  the  laws  of 
humanity,  the  established  principles  of  political 
science,  and  the  theories  upon  which  our  govern 
ment  is  based.  And  I  have  not  confined  myself  to 
the  elucidation  of  abstract  principles  ;  but  I  have 
carefully  applied  them  to  the  various  measures 
which  we  have  already  adopted,  and  to  the  policy 
which  is  urged  upon  us  in  the  future.  I  have  done 
even  more — for  while  condemning  particular  acts  as 
unlawful  or  impolitic,  and  pointing  out  the  mischiefs 
which  they  have  already  produced,  or  the  fatal  con 
sequences  to  which  they  will  lead  in  the  future,  I 
have  also  designated  the  lawful  and  regular  mode 


318  THE    FUTURE. 

of  meetiDg  the  same  emergency,  and  the  benefits 
and  advantages  to  ensue  from  its  adoption. 

So  fully  has  this  been  done  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  suggest  any  plan  (except  disunion)  by 
which  the  war  can  be  brought  to  a  close,  whether 
it  contemplates  the  preservation  or  the  destruction 
of  the  Constitution,  whose  general  features  will  not 
depend  upon  principles  that  have  been  condemned 
or  commended  in  these  pages,  with  reference  to 
considerations  of  expediency  as  well  as  of  right. 
And  if  I  should  attempt  to  add  another  to  the  many 
plans  for  the  settlement  of  our  difficulties,  now 
occupying  the  public  attention,  its  general  outline 
would  consist  of  a  mere  repetition  of  what  has  al 
ready  been  said ;  while  it  seems  to  me  that  it  would 
be  worse  than  unprofitable  to  attempt  to  mark  out 
at  the  present  time,  the  details  by  which  the  scheme 
could  be  carried  into  effect.  For  there  is  not  the 
slightest  possibility  that  this  work,  even  if  it  should 
fall  under  the  observation  of  our  present  rulers, 
would  in  any  respect  influence  their  action.  They 
are  committed  to  "  the  President's  plan  ;"  and  what 
ever  may  be  its  merits  or  demerits,  they  will  oc 
cupy  the  remaining  year  of  their  power  in  efforts 
to  force  it  upon  the  southern  people.  And  should 
I  attempt  to  devise,  with  reference  to  the  present 
situation  of  affairs,  the  details  of  a  scheme  that 
will  accomplish  the  results,  by  which  alone  we 
.'  ope  to  preserve  our  freedom  and  the  Union, 


THE    FUTURE.  319 

the  rapid  march  of  e-vents  might  soon  render  some 
of  them  impracticable,  and  perhaps  mischievous. 

Indeed  the  only  object  of  real  importance  at  the 
present  time,  that  should  command  the  efforts  of 
those  who  agree  with  me  that  the  policy  which  we 
are  at  present  pursuing,  can  end  in  nothing  but  in 
volving  the  southern  people  and  ourselves  in  a  com 
mon  ruin,  is  to  impress  that  fact  thoroughly  upon 
the  public  mind.  Whenever  the  American  people 
shall  fully  appreciate  the  consequences  of  attempt 
ing  to  maintain  the  Union  by  force,  and  clearly  un 
derstand  the  conditions  of  the  problem  involved  in 
its  maintenance  by  any  other  means,  there  will  be 
no  difficulty  in  settling  the.  details  of  a  scheme  of 
pacification,  which  will  ensure  at  all  events  the  pre 
servation  of  our  liberties,  and  will  also  accomplish 
the  restoration  of  the  Union,  if  that  event  is  yet 
capable  of  accomplishment  by  the  art  or  the  power 
of  man.  And  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the 
time  has  not  passed  when  such  a  consummation 
can  be  attained,  by  a  return  to  political  and  consti 
tutional  principles,  that  once  commanded  such 
universal  acquiescence,  and  by  the  exercise  towards 
the  southern  people  of  the  great  Christian  virtues 
of  forbearance,  magnanimity  and  charity — traits 
which  ennoble  nations  as  well  as  individuals.  I  have 
referred  in  the  seventh  chapter  to  some  of  the  rea 
sons  which  authorize  us  to  entertain  such  an  opin- 


320  THE    FUTURE. 

ion.*  It  will  be  confirmed  and  strengthened  by 
observing  the  great  change  that  has  taken  place, 
within  the  last  year  or  two,  in  the  character  of  the 
appeals  by  which  southern  newspapers  and  public 
speakers  animate  their  people  to  renewed  efforts, 
and  the  continued  endurance  of  the  hardships  of  the 
war.  At  the  commencement  of  the  struggle,  they 
were  never  weary  of  depicting  in  glowing  terms  the 
prosperity  and  greatness  to  which  their  section  would 
attain,  by  realizing  the  dream  of  Independence ; 
they  ascribed  its  misfortunes  and  comparative 
poverty  in  the  past,  solely  to  the  baneful  effects  of 
the  Union  ;  and  they  roused  popular  passion  by  re 
presenting  the  Northerners  as  lacking  in  every  one 
of  the  manly  virtues,  and  unworthy  to  be  the  politi 
cal  associates  of  a  chivalrous  and  high-minded  peo 
ple.  But  the  burden  both  of  vituperation  and  ar 
gument  is  now  entirely  altered.  We  hear  nothing 
more  of  northern  cowardice  ;  but  little  of  northern 
perfidy  ;  still  less  of  the  glories  and  advantages 
of  Southern  Independence,  or  of  grievances  sus 
tained  by  the  South  in  years  gone  by.  Denuncia 
tions  of  our  people  are  now  levelled  at  the  malig 
nant  and  blood-thirsty  spirit,  with  which  the  civil 
and  military  policy  of  our  Government  proves  the 
ruling  majority  to  be  imbued ;  and  arguments  are 

*  See  pages  139  to  141. 


THE    FUTURE.  321 

predicated  upon  the  political  ostracism,  degradation, 
spoliation,  and  slaughter  which  await  the  insurgents, 
whether  they  shall  voluntarily  submit  or  be  con 
quered.  Those  who  still  have  faith  in  the  success 
of  their  cause,  appear  to  have  diverted  the  stream 
of  their  vituperations  from  the  administration  party 
to  its  opponents,  evidently  through  apprehension 
that  a  change  of  policy  at  the  North  will  excite  such 
dissensions  at  the  South,  as  to  compel  the  abandon 
ment  of  the  struggle.  All  this  indicates  very  conclu 
sively  that  a  great  change  has  come  over  the  minds 
of  the  southern  people  since  the  commencement  of 
the  war,  and  that  a  large  number  of  them,  including 
several  of  their  leading  men,  find  their  principal 
motive  for  continuing  the  struggle  in  the  impossi 
bility  of  abandoning  it,  without  sacrificing  their 
self-respect  and  the  Constitutional  rights  of  a  whole 
people,  and  exposing  the  lives,  liberties  and  property, 
of  their  most  beloved  and  venerated  citizens  to  the 
fury  of  a  cruel  and  vindictive  enemy.* 

*  The  principal  newspapers  of  the  North  copy  from  time 
to  time  the  most  interesting  paragraphs  which  appear  in 
the  southern  papers.  Any  person  who  has  been  in  the 
habit  of  attentively  reading  those  extracts  will  confirm  my 
statements  respecting  their  tone  and  spirit,  heretofore  and 
at  the  present  time.  I  have  only  room  here  for  a  very  few 
recent  paragraphs,  which  I  select  as  among  the  most  sig 
nificant  indications  of  a  disposition  entertained  by  many  at 
the  South,  to  return  to  the  Union  whenever  they  can  do  so 
with  safety  and  honor. 

14* 


322  THK    FUTURE. 

To  what  extent  this  feeling  extends  is  of  course 
only  matter  of  conjecture ;  but  its  existence  autho 
rizes  us  to  believe  that  we  may  yet  avoid  the 

From  the  Mobile  Register,  edited  by  Judge  Forsyth  : 

"  We  thank  God  from  the  depths  of  our  heart  that  the 

authorities  at  Washington  snubbed  Vice-President  Stephens, 

in  his  late  attempt  to  confer  with  them    on  international 

affairs,  without  form  or  ceremony.         ..... 

President  Davis  gave  him  full  powers  to  treat  on  honora 
ble  terms  and  started  him  off  to  the  kingdom  of  Abraham. 
But  Father  Abraham  told  him  there  was  an  impassable 
gulf  between  them,  and  the  Vice-Presidont  had  to  steam 
back  to  Richmond,  a  little  top-fallen.  We  hope  this  will 
put  a  stop  forever  to  some  croakers  about  here,  who  inti 
mate  that  there  are  people  enough  friendly  to  the  South  in 
the  North  to  restore  the  Union  as  it  was.  And  we  also  hope 
the  Government  at  Richmond  will  not  humiliate  itself  any 
more,  but  from  this  time  will  look  only  to  the  one  end  of 

final  and  substantial  independence 

"  There  is  only  one  party  in  the  North  who  want  the  Union 
restored,  but  they  have  no  more  power — legislative,  execu 
tive  or  judicial — than  the  paper  we  write  on 

Should  a  strong  Union  party  spring  up  in  Ohio,  the  third 
State  in  the  North  in  political  importance,  it  might  find  a 
faint  response  in  some  southern  States  and  give  us  trouble. 
But  as  long  as  the  Republicans  hold  power,  they  will  think 
of  conquest  and  dominion  only,  and  we  on  the  other  hand 
will  come  up  in  solid  column  for  freedom  and  independ 
ence,  which  we  will  be  certain  to  achieve,  with  such  assist 
ance  as  we  may  now  (after  the  refusal  of  the  Washington 
Cabinet  to  confer)  confidently  expect,  before  the  Demo 
crats  of  the  North  get  into  power  again,  and  come  whisper 
ing  in  our  ears — '  Union,  reconstruction,  Constitution,  con 
cession  and  guaranties.''  Away  with  all  such  stuff  I  We 
want  separation.  Give  us  rather  men  like  Thaddeus 


THE    FUTURE.  323 

disruption  of  the  Union  without  trampling  the 
South  and  prostrating  ourselves  under  the  feet 
of  a  military  despotism.  And  although  I  shall 

Stevens  and  Charles  Simmer.  They  curse  the  old  Union 
and  despise  it  ;  and  so  do  we." 

From  the  Richmond  Enquirer  :  "  Bat  for  the  poisonous 
embrace  of  the  Democratic  party,  these  States  would  have 
been  free  and  clear  of  the  unnatural  Union  twenty  years 
ago.  The  idea  of  that  odious  party  coming  to  life  again, 
and  holding  out  its  arms  to  us,  makes  us  shiver.  Its  foul 
breath  is  malaria  ;  its  touch  is  death.  It  was  not  the  Sew- 
ards  and  the  Sumners,  the  Black  Republicans  and  Aboli 
tionists,  who  have  hurt  us.  They  were  right  all  along. 
Let  our  enemy  appear  as  an  exterminating  Yankee  host, 
we  pray,  and  not  as  a  Democratic  Convention  !  Let  him 
take  any  shape  but  that  I  Already  we  have  visions  of  the 
men  of  feeble  knees,  tender  feet,  and  undulating  spines, 
losing  their  sense  and  manhood  by  the  contact,  as  they  did, 
alas,  so  often  before." 

These  are  the  expressions  of  those  who  desire  separation  ; 
the  extract  which  follows  reflects  the  views  of  the  class  of 
men  referred  to  in  the  paragraphs  quoted  ;  those  who  per 
severe  because  they  have  no  other  option.  It  is  taken 
from  an  address  to  the  people  of  Georgia  by  the  Hon.  B. 
H.  Hill. 

"  Extreme  men  now  govern  the  United  States.  They 
mean  our  subjugation  and  ruin.  We  must  fight  as  long  as 
those  men  are  in  power.  When  the  people  of  the  United 
States  shall  drive  these  men  from  power,  and  repudiate 
their  extreme  measures,  and  cease  to  invade  and  rob  us, 
there  will  be  an  honorable  door  open  for  discussion.  But 
never  before.  Until  that  door  shall  be  opened  by  our  ene 
mies,  let  our  people  count  no  disaster  as  intolerable,  and 
regard  every  interest  as  protected  only  by  a  vigorous  pro 
secution  of  the  war.  Let  every  man  of  the  army  be  in 


324:  THE 

not  attempt,  for  tlie  reasons  already  given,  to  ela 
borate  a  scheme  by  which  tin's  result  can  be  at 
tained,  I  will  briefly  glance  at  some  questions  con 
nected  with  the  effort  to  accomplish  it,  the  condi 
tions  of  which  cannot  be  materially  affected  by  any 
mutation  in  public  affairs  that  the  progress  of  the 
war  will  occasion,  unless  unexpected  disasters  to 
our  armies,  or  the  intervention  of  European  powers, 
should  enable  the  Confederates  to  dictate  the  terms 
of  peace  to  us. 

I  regret  that  the  possibility  of  settling  our  diffi 
culties  by  negotiations  with  our  adversaries,  con 
templating  their  voluntary  return  to  the  Union,  is 
not  one  of  these  questions.  Many  of  our  ablest 
statesmen  and  purest  patriots  believe  that  such  a 
settlement  of  the  controversy  could  be  attained  at 
the  present  time,  in  a  manner  and  upon  terms  hon 
orable  to  both  parties,  and  which  would  ensure 
the  restoration  of  the  feelings  of  fraternal  attach 
ment  formerly  existing  between  the  different  sec 
tions  of  the  nation.  But  it  is  useless  to  inquire 
whether  these  hopes  are  now  well  founded,  since 
there  is  no  possibility,  while  the  present  Adminis 
tration  is  in  power,  of  testing  the  soundness  of  our 
conclusions  by  a  practical  experiment.  And  it 

camp,  and  let  every  man  not  of  the  army,  produce  some- 
thing'to  sustain  those  in  camp.  To  fight  the  extreme  men 
and  keep  our  ears  open  to  the  reasonable  and  just  men  of 
the  United  States,  is  the  only  road  to  peace  and  honor." 


THE    FUTURE.  325 

would  be  still  more  idle  to  speculate  whether  the 
events  of  the  succeeding  year  will  dissipate  or  con 
firm  them. 

But  there  is  another  question  of  paramount  im 
portance,  and  demanding  a  direct  and  immediate 
answer,  the  solution  of  which  necessarily  lies  at  the 
basis  of  an  altered  policy,  in  case  negotiations  shall 
fail  in  their  object,  or  the  state  of  the  country  shall 
be  such  that  they  could  not  be  usefully  or  honorably 
attempted ;  and  that  is — shall  the  war  ~be  further 
prosecuted  f  And  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  an 
affirmative  answer  to  this  question  can  be  justified, 
less  by  the  inherent  force  of  the  arguments  in  its 
favor,  than  by  a  consideration  of  the  consequences 
which  will  result  from  answering  it  in  the  negative. 
For  1  have  endeavored  to  show  that  although  the 
war  is  a  lawful  and  constitutional  mode  of  restoring 
the  Union,  yet  that  its  object  cannot  be  accom 
plished  under  our  existing  Constitution,  unless  it 
shall  terminate  with  the  voluntary  and  cheerful 
acceptance  by  the  southern  people,  of  the  restora 
tion  of  the  Government  to  its  former  authority  over 
them.  To  quote  Mr.  Seward  again  :  "  Only  an  im 
perial  or  despotic  government  could  subjugate 
thoroughly  disaffected  and  revolutionary  members 
of  the  State.  This  federal  republican  system  of 
ours  is  of  all  forms  of  government  the  very  one 
which  is  most  unfitted  for  such  a  labor."  No  can 
did  man  can  doubt  that  the  southern  States  are 


326  THE    FUTURE. 

now  thoroughly  disaffected  and  revolutionary ;  and 
I  have  endeavored  to  expose  the  fallacy  of  the 
theory  that  they  have  been  brought  to  that  condi 
tion,  or  that  they  are  maintained  in  it,  in  any  other 
way  than  by  the  voluntary  action  of  the  great  ma 
jority  of  their  people.  Hence  it  must  be  acknow 
ledged  that  the  attempt  to  inspire  the  southern  peo 
ple  with  attachment  to  the  Union  by  the  use  of 
force  presents  a  perplexing  problem. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  inquire  into  the 
probable  consequences  of  stopping  the  war.  And 
doubtful  and  uncertain  as  the  results  of  its  further 
prosecution  may  appear,  there  can  be  but  little 
doubt  or  uncertainty  respecting  the  consequences 
of  its  cessation.  To  withdraw  our  armies  from  the 
southern  territory,  and  announce  to  the  enemy  and 
the  world  that  we  had  abandoned  all  attempt  for 
cibly  to  reduce  the  insurgents  to  submission,  would 
lead  at  once  to  the  recognition  of  the  Southern  Con 
federacy  by  foreign  nations,  and  to  the  complete 
and  undisputed  establishment  of  its  sway  over  all 
the  people  within  its  boundaries.  It  would  then 
become  de  jure  and  de  facto  one  of  the  political 
sovereign  communities  of  the  civilized  world ;  the 
separation  would  be  complete ;  and  the  failure  of 
the  negotiations,  or  the  fact  that  they  were  so  mani 
festly  useless  that  they  were  not  undertaken,  would 
lead  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  final. 

It  is  true  that  such  a  result  might  be  due  to  the 


THE    FUTURE.  327 

fact  that  power  was  in  the  hands  of  men,  who  in 
that  respect  did  not  truly  represent  the  wishes  of  a 
majority  of  the  southern  people.  For  under  their 
form  of  government,  as  well  as  under  our  own,  the 
temper  of  the  people  and  of  their  rulers  may  be  for 
a  time  antagonistic  to  each  other.  But  for  us  to 
assume  the  existence  of  such  an  antagonism,  and  to 
wait  till  the  time  should  arrive  when  the  men 
whom  we  should  find  in  power,  would  be  compelled 
to  give  place  to  other  and  truer  representatives  of 
the  popular  sentiment,  would  expose  the  cause  of 
the  Union  to  innumerable  hazards  during  the  inter 
veiling  period.  And  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  peo 
ple  of  the  South,  notwithstanding  what  we  have 
done  to  merit  their  hatred,  still  cherish  feelings 
which  would  render  a  voluntary  re-union  possible, 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  such  feelings 
would  undergo  any  diminution,  if  we  should  destroy 
the  power  of  their  leaders  by  a  further  prosecution 
of  the  war,  without  adding  to  its  horrors  and  the 
passions  which  it  has  awakened,  by  a  perseverance 
in  the  policy  of  insult  and  aggravation  that  has 
heretofore  accompanied  it.  Hence  we  shall  gain 
nothing,  and  risk  the  loss  of  everything,  by  arrest 
ing  the  war,  and  leaving  the  Confederates  at  liberty 
to  accomplish  their  own  independence,  or  to  reunite 
with  us,  as  those  who  may  then  chance  to  hold  the 
reins  of  power  among  them  may  think  proper  to 
determine. 


328  THE    FUTURE. 

Inconsistent  as  war  may  appear  with  the  objects 
which  we  propose  to  accomplish,  it  seems  impossi 
ble  to  avoid  further  prosecuting  this  bloody,  hazard 
ous  and  costly  experiment  of  restoring  the  Union  by 
force,  till  the  progress  of  events  has  dissipated  our 
present  hopes  that  separation  may  be  averted,  or 
till  we  have  achieved  a  victory  in  the  field,  which 
we  must  trust  to  statesmanship  to  convert  into  a 
bond  of  future  affection  and  harmony.  It  is  truly 
a  sad  necessity — but  the  follies  of  the  past  have  left 
us  no  other  alternative.  We  can  only  say  with 
Macbeth — 

"  I  am  in  blood 

Stept  in  so  far,  that  should  I  wade  no  more, 
Returning  were  as  tedious  aa  go  o'er.'* 

The  gravity  and  importance  of  this  question, 
entitle  it  to  a  much  more  elaborate  discussion  ;  but 
the  length  to  which  these  pages  have  already  ex 
tended,  admonishes  me  that  I  must  subject  these 
concluding  remarks  to  a  strict  condensation.  And 
I  feel  the  less  reluctance  in  dismissing  the  subject 
after  such  a  cursory  and  imperfect  examination,  that 
its  merits  have  apparently  been  already  prejudged 
by  the  American  people. 

But  I  have  written  so  far  in  vain?  if  I  have  failed 
to  impress  my  reader  with  the  conviction  that  a 
continuation  of  hostilities  will  be  worse  than  useless, 
unless  it  shall  be  accompanied  with  an  entire  revo- 


THE    FUTURE.  329 

lution  of  feeling,  and  an  abandonment  of  some  of 
the  objects  which  we  have  hitherto  sought  to  attain. 
The  first  and  greatest  victory  which  it  behooves  113 
to  achieve,  is  a  victory  over  ourselves.  We  must 
go  back  not  only  to  the  objects  expressed  in  the 
Crittenden  resolution,  but  to  the  sentiments  with 
which  that  resolution  declares  the  rulers  of  the 
nation  to  be  inspired.  We  must  banish  all  feelings 
of  mere  passion  or  resentment,  and  recollect  only 
our  duty  to  the  whole  country — to  the  South  as  well 
as  to  the  North.  "We  must  recognize  and  keep  ever 
prominently  before  us  this  great  fundamental  truth, 
that  the  end  of  the  war,  if  it  shall  be  commensurate 
with  our  hopes,  will  find  the  men  now  arrayed  in 
arms  against  us  our  equals  and  our  brethren,  under 
a  system  of  government  depending  upon  the  volun 
tary  cooperation  of  the  whole  people — a  system 
that  can  endure  only  upon  conditions,  which  have 
been  clearly  and  emphatically  stated  by  one,  whose 
conduct  at  a  similar  political  crisis  I  have  repeatedly 
commended  as  a  model  for  imitation  : 

"  The  Constitution  cannot  be  maintained  nor  the 
Union  preserved,  in  opposition  to  public  feeling, 
ly  the  mere  exertion  of  the  coercive  powers  confided 
to  the  general  Government;  the  foundations  must 
~be  laid  in  the  affections  of  the  people  ;  in  the  security 
it  gives  to  life,  liberty,  character  and  property  in 
every  quarter  of  the  country  /  and  in  the  fraternal 
attachment  which  the  citizens  of  the  several  States 


330  THE    FUTURE. 

~bear  to  one  another  as  members  of  one  political 
-family,  mutually  contributing  to  promote  the  happi 
ness  of  each  other" 

We  must  therefore  cease  to  look  at  the  rebellion 
in  its  legal  aspect,  and  consider  it  from  a  political 
point  of  view.  We  must  abandon  the  idea  of  pun 
ishing  our  adversaries  as  traitors  and  disturbers 
of  the  public  peace,  and  learn  to  regard  them 
as  a  people  imbued  with  political  dogmas,  pre 
judices,  feelings,  and  passions,  which  force,  severity, 
usurpation  and  humiliation  will  only  strengthen, 
and  which  can  only  be  removed  by  the  exercise  of 
justice,  kindness,  moderation  and  forbearance.  The 
war  must  be  regarded  as  a  mere  instrument  to 
bring  them  within  reach  of  those  influences ;  and 
care  must  be  taken  that  while  hostile  action  is 
repressed,  the  tenacity  of  hostile  opinion,  and  the 
intensity  of  hostile  passion,  be  not  left  undiminished. 
And  we  must  never  forget  that  we  shall  ourselves 
be  compelled  in  the  end  to  heal  every  wound,  which 
we  shall  have  inflicted  upon  the  pride  as  well  as  the 
sense  of  justice,  of  a  high-spirited  people,  descend 
ants  of  our  common  ancestors,  and  possessing  the 
same  faults  and  the  same  virtues  as  ourselves. 

We  must  therefore  utterly  abandon  the  idea  that 
we  are  fighting  to  accomplish  the  ends  of  public  jus 
tice,  to  avenge  the  injured  majesty  of  the  laws,  or  to 
repair  the  defects  of  the  Constitution.  Still  more 
emphatically  must  we  renounce  the  expectation  of  at- 


THE    FUTURE.  331 

taining  by  means  of  the  war,  political  advantages  to 
our  own  section,  beyond  those  which  the  Constitu 
tion  secures  to  us  ;  the  redress  of  grievances,  real  or 
imaginary,  which  we  have  sustained  in  times  past ; 
the  reformation  of  social  institutions  with  which  we 
have  no  rightful  concern,  or  the  promotion  of  phi 
lanthropic  objects  at  the  expense  of  others.  We 
must  reiterate  our  solemn  pledge  that  it  is  waged 
SOLELY  "  to  defend  and  maintain  the  supremacy  of 
the  Constitution  and  preserve  the  Union,  with  all 
the  dignity,  equality,  and  rights  of  the  several 
States  unimpaired."  And  we  must  firmly  resolve 
that  when  those  objects  are  accomplished,  or  when 
it  has  been  conclusively  demonstrated  that  they 
cannot  be  accomplished,  the  war  ought  to  cease, 
and  shall  cease. 

There  are  many  at  the  ^N"orth  who  would  gladly 
welcome  the  adoption  of  an  equitable,  humane,  and 
constitutional  policy  towards  the  southern  people, 
and  are  willing,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  upon 
such  a  policy  with  other  conservative  and  moderate 
men,  to  waive  all  differences  of  opinion  respecting 
every  measure,  except  one.  These  men  hold  that 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation  should  be  sus 
tained  ;  some  of  them  because  they  have  faith  in 
its  expediency  as  well  as  its  legality ;  others,  be 
cause,  irrespective  of  its  expediency,  they  believe  it 
to  be  legal,  and  that  the  faith  of  the  nation  which 
it  plighted  to  the  blacks,  would  be  dishonorably 


332  THE    FUTURE. 

violated  by  its  withdrawal.  They  assume  that  the 
South,  and  the  majority  of  conservative  moil  at 
the  North,  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing  but  its 
immediate  and  unconditional  repeal,  and  the  abro 
gation  of  all  rights  real  or  pretended,  which  may 
have  been  acquired  under  it.  Hence  they  are  un 
able  to  see  any  method  whereby  this  stumbling- 
block  can  be  removed. 

It  seems  to  me,  however,  that  imagination  has 
greatly  overrated  this  difficulty,  and  that  if  the  em 
barrassments  which  attend  the  settlement  of  the 
controversy  with  the  South,  or  the  union  of  mode 
rate  men  at  the  North,  can  be  narrowed  down  to 
this  point,  it  can  be  easily  overcome.  For  one, 
decided  as  my  opinions  are  respecting  the  invalidity 
and  inexpediency  of  military  emancipation,  I  am 
willing  not  only  to  waive  this  question  entirely,  but 
even  to  support  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  who 
entirely  dissents  from  my  views  upon  that  subject, 
provided  that  he  will  pledge  himself  to  abide  by 
the  regular  operation  of  the  laws.  In  truth  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  has  already  accom 
plished  all  its  mission  for  good — would  that  I  could 
say  the  same  of  its  mission  for  evil !  If  the  blacks 
have  acquired  their  freedom  under  it,  their  right  to 
freedom  is  as  sacred  and  unalterable  as  our  own  ; 
certainly  neither  the  President  as  a  military  com 
mander,  nor  the  President  and  Congress  as  civil 
functionaries,  can  lawfully  remand  freemen  into 


THE    FUTURE.  333 

slavery.  Its  repeal  or  its  reaffirmance  will  not 
therefore  affect  the  condition  of  a  single  human 
being  in  the  land.  Its  future  career  presents  only 
three  alternatives  :  it  must  pass  the  ordeal  of  a  judi 
cial  decision ;  or  it  must  be  upheld  by  a  lawless  ex 
ercise  of  power  ;  or  it  must  be  trampled  upon  by 
an  equally  flagrant  usurpation.  If  our  adversaries 
will  pursue  the  second  of  these  alternatives,  let 
them  stand  alone  in  a  career  of  lawlessness  and 
violence.  The  first  is  the  only  one  which  we  can 
adopt  with  consistency,  safety  and  justice  to  all 
concerned. 

The  people  of  the  South,  if  reason  shall  take  the 
place  of  passion  among  them,  cannot  fail  to  recog 
nize  the  force  of  these  principles,  and  if  the  other 
conditions  of  reunion  shall  be  favorable,  the  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation  will  not  prove  a  serious  ob 
stacle.  Whether  it  shall  be  repealed  or  allowed  to 
stand,  they  must  equally  expect  that  its  validity 
will  be  determined  by  judicial  proceedings.  They 
will  demand  a  fair,  competent,  and  impartial  tribu 
nal,  and  they  should  have  one.  They  will  demand 
that  the  President  shall  not  forcibly  interfere  be 
tween  them  and  the  blacks  till  the  relation  between 
them  shall  be  judicially  determined,  and  this 
demand  should  also  be  acceded  to.  If,  contrary  to 
their  expectations,  the  decision  should  be  in  favor 
of  the  blacks,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  Federal 
authorities  to  enforce  the  mandates  of  the  Federal 


334  THE    FUTURE. 

Court.  Such  a  decision  would  doubtless  cause 
great  disappointment  and  serious  pecuniary  loss 
to  the  slaveholding  whites,  but  it  would  not  inter 
fere  with  the  peaceful  and  regular  action  of  the 
Government  within  their  section  of  the  country. 
The  injury  would  be  pecuniary  merely  ;  it  would 
add  another  to  the  many  calamities  which  the  war 
has  brought  upon  the  southern  people ;  but  it 
would  be  unaccompanied  with  a  sense  of  humilia 
tion  from  which  the  greatest  obstacles  to  future 
harmony  are  to  be  apprehended.* 

The  people  of  the  North  may  rest  assured  that  if 
all  other  questions  can  be  equitably  adjusted,  the 
institution  of  slavery  will  never  again  lead  to  a  dis 
turbance  of  the  public  peace,  whatever  may  be  the 

*  "  Fas  est  ab  hoste  doceri." — I  find  a  sentence  in  a 
recent  number  of  that  "  loyal "  periodical,  The  Atlantic 
Monthly,  which  expresses  so  forcibly  the  comparative 
eifects  of  insults  and  injuries  upon  the  human  mind  that  I 
copy  it  :  "  We  doubt  if  any  strong  enmity  was  ever  cre 
ated  in  the  minds  of  men  or  nations  through  the  infliction 
of  injuries,  though  injuring  parties  have  an  undoubted  right 
to  hate  their  victims  ;  and  we  are  sure  that  an  insult  was 
never  yet  forgiven  by  any  nation,  or  by  any  individual,  whose 
resentment  was  of  any  account" 

The  writer  states  this  undeniable  proposition  with  a  naif 
unconsciousness  of  the  force  of  the  argument  which  he  fur 
nishes  against  the  whole  plan  of  subjugation.  He  is  dis 
cussing,  not  the  effect  of  injuring  and  insulting  the  southern 
people  at  the  same  time,  but  of  the  insults  which  WE  have 
received  from  England.  Upon  that  subject  his  clearness 
of  mental  vision  is  beyond  criticism. 


THE    FUTURE.  335 

result  of  the  judicial  test  to  which  the  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation  will  be  subjected.  As  an  engine 
of  political  controversy  its  doom  will  be  sealed  by 
the  restoration  of  the  Union.  The  misfortunes  which 
excessive  devotion  to  it  have  brought  upon  the 
southern  people  cannot  fail  to  greatly  discredit  it 
in  their  estimation,  if  we  shall  cease  to  make  its  ex 
istence  the  symbol  of  their  own  civil  liberty,  and 
allow  reason  and  reflection  to  combat  it,  without 
interference  from  the  promptings  of  pride  and  pas 
sion.  The  destiny  of  the  territories  is  fixed  forever 
by  the  laws  of  God  as  well  as  the  laws  of  man. 
Maryland  and  Missouri  are  now  substantially  free 
States,  and  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and 
Arkansas  will  soon  follow  their  example,  by  the  vol 
untary  action  of  their  own  people,  unless  an  unjustifi 
able  attempt  to  destroy  slavery  by  military  force  and 
usurped  power,  shall  frustrate  all  efforts  to  accom 
plish  its  lawful  and  constitutional  extinction.  The 
States  where  it  yet  exists  are  already  in  a  hopeless 
minority,  in  the  Senate,  the  House  of  Eepresenta- 
tives,  and  the  Electoral  College — a  minority  which 
must  become  more  insignificant  as  time  adds  to  the 
number  of  the  free  States,  without  increasing  that 
of  the  others.  In  those  States  where  the  institution 
shall  survive,  it  will  exist  purely  as  an  industrial 
system,  the  preservation  or  extinction  of  which  the 
people  will  regulate  as  their  own  interests  may  dic 
tate  ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  the  warnings  of  the 


336  THE    FUTURE. 

past  will  not  be  lost   upon   either  section  of  the 
nation. 

If  the  people,  by  repudiating  the  policy  of  sub 
jugation,  shall  manifest  their  determination  that 
popular  institutions  shall  survive  this  struggle,  it 
will  be  necessary  for  our  sake,  as  well  for  the  sake 
of  the  southern  people,  that  the  Constitution  should 
undergo  an  immediate  revision.  Before  the  war 
broke  out,  experience  had  already  demonstrated  its 
inefficiency  to  answer  the  requirements  of  such  a 
populous,  powerful,  and  wealthy  people  as  we  have 
become  since  its  adoption.  The  events  which 
led  to  the  war  admonish  us  that  we  have  post 
poned  for  too  long  a  period  its  adaptation 
to  the  altered  circumstances  of  the  nation. 
And  the  war  itself  has  already  destroyed  its 
substance  and  reduced  it  to  a  mere  shell.  We 
have  yet  a  judicia-l  department,  an  executive  de 
partment,  and  a  legislative  department,  the  latter 
consisting  of  two  Houses,  the  members  of  one  of 
which  are  elected  by  the  people,  with  certain  ex 
ceptions  which  have  been  noted  ;  but  what  else 
remains  of  the  Constitution  ?  The  ability  of  the 
judiciary  to  restrain  the  other  departments  within 
their  allotted  spheres  is  gone;  and  the  Presi 
dent  and  the  legislature  acknowledge  no  limita 
tion  of  their  powers  save  their  own  ideas  of  pub 
lic  necessity.  And,  worse  yet,  the  executive  de 
partment  is  rapidly  assuming  the  functions  of  the 


THE    FUTURE.  337 

legislature,  with,  the  consent  or  at  least  the  acqui 
escence  of  the  latter. 

It  is  true  that  the  supporters  of  the  administra 
tion  allege  that  this  state  of  things  is  merely  tem 
porary  ;  but  in  the  same  breath  they  acknowledge 
its  permanency,  by  felicitating  themselves  and  the 
country  upon  the  unexpected  strength  which  the 
Government  has  been  found  to  possess.  It  is  also 
true  that  the  opposition  vehemently  denounce  the 
administration  for  its  assumption  of  unconstitu 
tional  powers,  but  the  precedents  having  been 
established,  they  will  remain  for  the  guidance  of 
all  future  administrations,  whatever  may  be  their 
political  principles.  A  wild  beast  newly  caught  is 
scarcely  more  impatient  of  its  cage  than  power  of 
the  fetters  which  restrain  it.  And  from  the  moment 
when  a  political  emergency  becomes  recognized  as  a 
key  which  unlocks  them,  the  line  which  bounds  it  and 
the  features  which  distinguish  it,  commence  to  fade  in 
the  eyes  of  those,  who  are  alone  authorized  to  deter 
mine  the  application  of  the  precedent.  Soon  they 
disappear  entirely;  and  the  limits  of  power  no 
longer  depend  upon  fixed  boundaries,  but  fluctuate 
from  time  to  time  according  to  the  ability  or  the 
disposition  of  him  who  wields  it,  or  the  strength  of 
the  party  which  sustains  him.  As  the  boundary 
lines  of  power  advance,  they  push  back  those  which 
define  the  rights  of  the  people  :  as  they  recede  the 
antagonistic  force  advances,  and  soon  steps  within 
15 


338  TIIE    FUTURE. 

the  legitimate  territory  of  the  other;  and  thus 
government  becomes  to-day  a  despotism,  and  to 
morrow  a  mere  advisory  body.  If  such  a  state  of 
tilings  shall  continue  long,  a  bloody  struggle  will 
ensue,  the  result  of  which  will  be  a  permanent  des 
potism,  or  a  complete  breaking  up  anew  of  that 
Union  which  we  are  now  endeavoring  to  recon 
struct  at  such  immense  expenditure  of  blood  and 
treasure. 

It  must  be  apparent  to  any  reflecting  man,  even 
if  he  believes  that  necessity  has  justified  the  course 
of  the  administration  during  the  past  three  years, 
that  its  acts  cannot  safely  be  allowed  to  pass  into 
history,  as  precedents  for  the  future  action  of 
whatever  party  shall  be  strong  enough  to  follow 
them.  As  soon  as  comparative  tranquillity  allows 
the  people  to  turn  their  thoughts,  from  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  Union  to  the  preservation  of  popular 
liberty,  a  cry  for  a  national  convention  will  arise 
throughout  the  whole  country.  Would  it  not  be 
wise  to  base  negotiations  with  the  insurgents  upon 
this  inevitable  necessity,  or  in  some  other  manner 
to  take  advantage  of  it,  for  the  purpose  of  shorten 
ing  the  war  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  much  might  be 
gained  by  a  standing  offer  to  meet  our  rebellious 
fellow-citizens,  whenever  they  shall  lay  down  their 
arms,  in  a  convention,  composed  of  delegates  freely 
and  fairly  chosen  by  the  people  of  all  the  States, 
and  called  together  for  the  purpose  of  amending  the 


THE    FUTURE.  339 

Constitution,  so  as  to  redress  all  real  or  imaginary 
grievances,  provide  against  the  occurrence  of  quar 
rels  in  the  future,  and  establish  the  Union  upon 
a  new   and   more  satisfactory  basis.      Would   not 
such  an  offer  produce  a  powerful  effect  in  hasten 
ing  the  period  of  submission,  and  possibly  avoiding 
the  embarrassments  which  even  a  successful  exer 
cise  of  force  will  entail  upon  us  ?     It  would  cer 
tainly  open  to  the  southern  people-  a  door  for  their 
return  to  the  Union  without  the  humiliation  of  de 
feat   and  conquest,  and  in  entire   confidence  that 
they  would  be  received  as   brethren,  equals,  and 
fellow-citizens.     If  there  is  in  truth  a  party  among 
them  disposed  to  abandon  the  struggle  whenever  they 
can  secure  honorable  terms  of  submission,  such  an 
offer  would  tend  to  strengthen  its  hands  and  increase 
its  numbers;  and  we  may  fairly  indulge  the  hope  that 
it  would  operate  so  powerfully  in  this  direction,  as  to 
spare  any  further  effusion  of  blood,  by  satisfying 
those  who  were  still  disposed  to  hold  out,  that  the 
cause  of  southern   independence  could   no  longer 
command   that  united   support  among  their   own 
people,  without  which  its  success  would  be  hope 
less. 

But  even  if  the  convention  shall  not  meet  till  after 
the  war  shall  be  ended,  it  may  still  be  made  a  power 
ful  agency  to  allay  the  remnants  of  discontent,  which 
the  prostration  of  the  rebellion,  even  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  will  leave  behind.  I  will 


34:0  THE    FUTURE. 

not  prematurely  attempt  an  enumeration  of  all  the 
objects  which  it  should  accomplish.  Certain  evils, 
however,  obtrude  themselves  in  such  gigantic  and 
hideous  forms  upon  the  eye,  that  the  bare  sugges 
tion  of  reform  becomes  at  once  associated  with 
their  extinction.  The  most  flagrant  and  abomin 
able  of  these  is  the  practice  of  ignoring  fitness,  ca 
pacity,  or  integrity  in  the  distribution  of  the  enor 
mous  patronage  of  the  Government ;  of  making  the 
tenure  of  office  depend  exclusively  upon  the  politi 
cal  opinions  or  party  services  of  the  candidates;  and 
of  signalizing  the  advent  of  every  new  administra 
tion  to  power,  by  a  radical  change  in  all  the  public 
offices  throughout  the  country.  It  is  impossible  to 
exaggerate  the  mischiefs  to  which  this  detestable 
perversion  of  the  executive  power  of  appointment 
and  removal  has  already  led,  and  to  which  its  con 
tinuance  will  lead  in  the  future.  Its  most  obvious 
effects  are  seen  in  the  violence,  mendacity,  and  un- 
ecrupulousness  which  characterize  our  political  can 
vasses,  the  corruption  which  pervades  every  depart 
ment  of  the  Government,  and  the  weakness  and 
incapacity  of  our  public  men.  These  are  all  trace 
able  directly  to  a  system  which  has  driven  the 
purest  and  ablest  men  of  the  country  out  of  public 
life,  and  compelled  us  to  trust  the  administration 
of  the  Government  in  a  great  measure  to  those  who 
an-  morally  and  intellectually  unfit  for  their  post.  In 
this  way  I  opine  that  the  careful  student  of  the 


THE    FUTURE. 


causes  which  led  to  the  present  'war  will  find  that 
this  practice  is  really  responsible  f  >r  the  creation  of 
the  jealousies,  fears,  misrepresentations,  and  heart 
burnings,  of  which  the  institution  of  slavery  was 
merely  a  vehicle  and  the  pretext.  And  an  infusion 
into  our  public  affairs  of  the  wisdom,  moderation 
and  integrity,  in  which  of  late  years  they  have  been 
so  deficient,  by  approaching  our  presidential  elec 
tion  more  nearly  to  the  character  of  a  struggle  for 
the  simple  ascendency  of  principles,  would  do  more 
than  any  other  measure  to  heal  the  wounds  left 
open  by  the  war,  and  to  insure  the  nation  against 
another  disturbance  of  the  public  peace. 

The  attention  of  the  convention  should  also  be 
directed  to  precluding  the  possibility  of  future  col 
lisions  between  the  general  Government  and  the 
States.  The  former,  strengthened  by  the  addition 
of  such  powers  as  experience  shows  that  its  effi 
ciency  requires,  should  be  limited  by  more  clearly 
denned  boundaries  ;  and  the  language  by  which  the 
grants  or  restrictions  of  power  are  regulated,  should 
be  so  revised  as  to  exclude  or  sanction  the  different 
interpretations  to  which  it  has  already  given  rise. 
Greater  and  more  lasting  checks  against  the  usur 
pations  of  the  various  depositories  of  power  over  the 
citizen,  or  over  each  other,  should  be  introduced. 
The  rights  and  powers  of  the  States,  the  nature, 
character,  and  permanency  of  the  Union,  and  the 
relation^  of  the  States  to  each  other  and  to  the 


34:3  THE    FUTURE. 

central  Government,  should  be  as  clearly  defined  as 
language  will  permit.  And  some  great  tribunal, 
with  ample  ability  to  enforce  its  mandates  in  time 
of  war  or  in  time  of  peace,  and  to  protect  its  own 
independence  against  the  encroachments,  assaults 
or  corruptions  of  any  department  of  the  Govern 
ment,  should  be  created,  with  a  jurisdiction  suffi 
ciently  enlarged  to  preclude  the  possibility  of 
a  resort  to  the  sword,  in  order  to  settle  such  dis 
putes  as  the  imperfection  of  human  language,  and 
the  narrow  range  of  human  foresight,  render  it  im 
possible  wholly  to  avoid.  Other  measures,  tending 
to  bind  more  closely  together  the  now  dissevered 
fragments  of  the  Union,  and  to  u  establish  justice, 
ensure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide.for  the  common 
defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  pos 
terity,"  will  suggest  themselves  to  reflecting  men, 
when  the  proper  period  shall  arrive  for  them-  con 
sideration.  But  the  public  mind  is  not  yet  ripe  for  a 
discussion  of  these  measures,  or  of  the  means  where 
by  the  reforms  suggested  can  be  accomplished. 


And  here  I  will  bring  to  a  close  these  observations, 
which  have  already  extended  far  beyond  my  original 
intentions,  and  to  a  length  that  nothing  but  the  mag 
nitude  of  ihe  interests  at  stake  could  justify.  Hope 
ful  as  I  try  to  be,  that  rny  country  will  survive  its 


THE    FUTURE.  %.& 

terrible  ordeal,  I  have  not  been  able  to  banish 
from  my  mind  the  belief  that  it  is  rushing  onward 
toward  an  abyss,  at  the  bottom  of  which  lie  national 
destruction  and  individual  ruin.  Impressed  with 
this  conviction,  I  have  endeavored  plainly  and  ear 
nestly,  but  I  hope  temperately  and  with  charity 
towards  those  who  differ  from  me,  to  point  out  the 
signs  of  the  danger  and  the  fatal  consequences  of 
the  plunge.  I  have  discharged  my  task  witli  an 
ever-present  sense  of  the  reponsibility  resting  upon 
the  man,  who  aims  to  influence  public  opinion  at 
such  a  crisis  of  the  nation's  destiny.  And  I  have 
been  led  at  every  step  of  my  labors  —  and  especially 
in  this  last  chapter  —  to  feel  acutely  how  fearful 
and  uncertain  is  the  mysterious  future  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  explore,  and  how  blindly  we 
are  all  groping  in  the  dark.  In  such  a  strait,  while, 
as  becomes  men,  we  bend  all  our  physical  and  intel 
lectual  energies  to  extricate  ourselves,  let  us  also 
trust  that  a  kind  Providence,  in  its  infinite  wisdom, 
will  second  our  efforts,  and  ultimately  lead  us  to 
the  way,  whereby  we  can  emerge  from  this  dark 
ness  into  the  light  of  peace,  fraternity,  civil  liberty 
and  prosperity. 

•'  O  that  a  man  might  know 
The  end  of  this  day's  business  ere  it  come  ! 
But  it  sufficeth  that  the  day  will  end, 
And  then  the  end  is  known." 


OF  . 

UNIVERSITY 


UNIVEKSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY, 
BERKELEY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAJVfDPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


MAi*  M954LU 


3lMar'57TS 


16Apr'60BR 


I S 


20m-ll,'20 


:        .      .  .       •••'••• 


